The Magician
by Tale master redux
Summary: What can a naive scared human mage do against the might of the Supernatural? A lot, a whole lot of things especially when the supernatural is in his way of becoming a Harem King.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **The Magician**

Issei Hyoudou did not know what overcame him when he bought the particular book before him.

It was a book, one that he had bought along with several others which dealt with runes and summoning.

The particular book was supposed to let him first gain access to his inner magical power and then teach him how to cast spells and so on. He had only bought this book due to it mentioning a spell that could bend light and give him a clear view about a particular place.

Issei had thought that it would be a great peeping tool and thus had bought it on impulse, he also bought the runes and summoning books to get an additional discount and at that time he was thinking how cool it would be to summon a Heroic spirit like he saw in Fate Stay/Night.

Hell he should not have gotten so worked up about it as everyone knew that Magic was not real.

Yet when Issei looked at the book something scream out to him to take it and learn from it. It was a fake and even though he knew it was fake Issei could not help but show some interest in the books.

Reading a few pages of the books, Issei had to admit that they were well written and the authors had put a lot of effort in making them sound real and genuine, using both obscure scientific knowledge and mystical mumbo-jumbo, the facts and theories all sounded real and compelling enough for someone to say that it was a genuine article.

Still a fake is a fake, and unless magic is real, the book was nothing but a waste of money, except for when he wanted something to read even then it would not be in his top choices.

"And I simply wasted my monthly allowance on the books; I had even gotten some extra this month too." Issei lamented, regretting his impulsive decision.

"I guess I should turn in for the night."

With a heavy heart and grieving over his wasted allowance Issei went to sleep, unaware of how his destiny had changed.

#############

Life went on as usual for Issei.

Going to school, peeping on girls, getting beaten by said girls, playing eroge, hanging out with his friends, and living a mundane ordinary life, his brief impulse with the occult had been put aside for the more intrusive pursuit of the female body, thus life went on as usual for him.

Thus Issei was surprised when he found the three books on the supernatural again.

Unlike last time, Issei had practically nothing to do at the moment, which was why he was browsing his book collection in the first place; he was also not too interested in reading manga or watching anime nor even indulged in his other hobbies.

He may have been a lifelong pervert but even he needed a small break form it, time to time.

Thus just for a brief period of time Issei entertained the idea of reading the books.

'Might as well read them and see what I had wasted my monthly allowance on for.' Issei thought now feeling quite curious on what laid in the books. 'If nothing else I'll kill some time reading them and it's not like I can't put them back if they are too boring.'

With his decision made Issei began to read the book titled 'Solomon's guide to Magic'.

##########

Issei did not know when he became so engrossed in the book, that he lost track of time.

It was not that compelling to read and often became boring at some parts, like explanation on some spells, what engrossed him was the comments made by Solomon on the various magical practices and how they were foolish to not see that some of the tricks performed by other styles of magic when combined with theirs could boost them to new heights.

Solomon would thus often mock and praise various magicians at the same time and give his own analysis and thoughts on their various magical practices.

Yet that was not what caught Issei's interest the most. Solomon for all intent and purpose was a massive pervert and not only that he had a Harem of 300 wives with more than 700 consorts, that was enough for Issei to respect the man, for Issei had a dream of becoming a Harem King.

Issei was now quite lamenting on not reading the book thoroughly the first time, he really had missed out on the greatness that was Solomon.

'Oh well as they say better late than never.' Issei thought 'Damn Solomon really had a huge Harem; I don't think I could ever reach that number but hell I made a vow not to treat the members of my Harem like trophies.'

That had been one vow that Issei took seriously, to never treat the members of his Harem like trophies to be paraded, they were going to be women who were going to love him and thus he was going to make sure that they were as happy as possible with him.

Turing his thoughts away from his dreams to the book, Issei wondered 'would these methods even work? They seem quite legit enough.'

Mulling over the methods and theories in the book, Issei decide 'I guess there is no harm in trying them out, it's not like they are going to work in the first place.' Though Issei did hoped a little of them working.

"First I need to access my magical powers, prana, mana or simply magic as it is called" Issei read the first instruction. "Well, I am calling it Prana, makes me feel more like a Magus." Issei decided paying tribute to his favourite eroge game.

"The easiest and safest way to access my 'Prana' first I would have to draw the ritual circle and then meditate in the circle and then focus on finding a trigger that would help me access my chant." Issei read the next lines of the instructions.

The circle itself was not that complicated to draw and was not too large in size too, which meant that he could simply draw one in his room and erase it later. It was the trigger that got him thinking.

"Note; the trigger should be something that the user is intimately familiar with and draws upon his greatest feelings and desires, yet requires intense concentration, base desires like lust make for poor triggers often leading to the magician using their magic at inappropriate times and causing undue damage."

"Well there goes my idea of using breasts as a trigger." Issei sighed at the loss of his most obvious choice. "Still there must be others with I can use."

With that Issei began thinking what he should use as a trigger, while drawing the ritual circle with a chalk.

'The most obvious choice is 'Trace On' of EMIYA but it just doesn't give me much of a feeling and frankly it does not even make me think too deeply too.' Thus with that he discarded that phrase as his trigger.

Thus even after an hour had passed when he had finished the circle and sat cross legged to get into a meditative position, Issei had still not being able to find a decent phrase for him to use as his trigger.

Phrases like 'Henshin', 'Go Team Laggan', 'Bankai', etc. had not helped him even a bit. Hell he even went with 'Raising Heart, Set Up' which while got some reaction from the circle still failed to make any decent progress.

Issei was really surprised at the fact that the circle was genuine and the surreal revelation of magic being real. He tried to dismiss it as a trick of the light and his mind, yet the circle had glowed for a good 10-14 seconds that proved that magic was real.

Thus with a burning determination Issei sought to pour his all into unlocking his 'Prana'.

'Still, who knew a magical girls transformation phrase would help a boy like me.' Issei chuckled at the strange yet interesting avenue of thought.

While Issei had failed to used that phrase as a trigger, a thing that both disappointed and relived him, cause what kind of man would he be to use a magical girls transformation phrase, it had shown him how to really go about choosing his trigger.

"I have to really think and pour all my emotions, not just my lust but also my curiosity, joy, awe and even fear and hate into the trigger." Issei concluded, after all the sight of Nanoha saying that phrase both made him jump with joy and yet brought a bit of fear of her using those giant death beams of death. "Man this is going to be hard."

And it was true, for a normal boy like Issei who had not experience many things, had not encountered any life changing incident, the one with the perverted old man not counting, it was hard to visualise something which he could pour his all his heart in.

Sure he could still use breasts as his trigger but he just could not pour his hate and fear into them as well it was almost unthinkable for him to regard breasts as something monstrous and he was not that deep into the internet community to see some of the more debased forms, for him to truly make it as a trigger.

Sighing, Issei almost gave up on thinking of a trigger, but then something caught his sight the poster of Gilgamesh using his Gate of Babylon.

It was a poster that he had bought when the Fate/Zero anime aired.

He liked the anime and love Iskander, because just how can you not like that guy, he even like the prick, El Mollie and his fiancé, Kiritsugu was of course while a bit too dark for his taste was a great character, Issei still saw him as an asshole though.

Irisviel and the other cast were great too. He was though a bit miffed with the wish of Artoria, which he solved by playing the Fate route plenty of times to redeem her character. And the cameo by Jeanne D'Arc from Apocrypha was just great too.

It was an all-round fine anime, great even, for him, he liked all the characters in it even that damn fake priest Kirei, and well after seeing him in Zero and playing the Heaven's Feel Route there was just something that made him a truly great character.

Yet out of all the characters none could make him both hate and make him feel awe like Gilgamesh.

In Zero he gave the King of Conquerors the farewell he deserved, was insanely powerful and had arrogance that he could back up, then in Stay/night he was still the arrogant-powerful King, yet he felt more like a Tyrant than the wise king in Zero. Him ripping out Illya's Heart and killing Berserker did not help his case at all.

Still he was such a character that one could both hate and love at the same time, for his insufferable yet justified arrogance, power, and sometime truly repugnant deeds and also who can forget the sight of him acknowledging someone as his equal and giving the respect they truly deserve. He was that good a character.

Yet it was not the character that drew his attention, it was his Noble Phantasm, The Gates of Babylon.

When Issei first saw it his mind thought of a question, 'What treasures laid behind those gates?'

Issei began to wonder that if those gates had everything the world had to offer both form the past and the future, then what would he see when he entered them.

'Would I see great piles of gold, jewels and silver that were piled up like mountains? Would I see the most beautiful painting, the best sculptures, and the wonders of the world itself or something mundane yet beautiful in its own right, what wonders truly laid in those gates.' Issei wondered not noticing the circle flaring at his thoughts.

'I know that there would be weapons in the gate, but weapons of what kind? I have seen swords, spears and axes coming out from the gate when Gil used the gate, but would I see bows, hammers, shields, guns, bombs and other kinds of weapons?'

The circle glowed brighter feeding of his curiosity.

'There was Vimana the flying machine.' Issei thought back on the strange craft 'Was it simply unique or were there more like it?'

Brighter and brighter the circle glowed and yet Issei ignored it and continue his like of thought.

'There surely must be more inside the gate' Issei thought 'along with the most perfect pair of breasts too, after all if they aren't a treasure worthy of a king than nothing else would be.' Issei thought as he drooled at the thought of such pair of breasts, "And that Bastard Gilgamesh is hording it to himself." Issei said, feeling both angry and jealous at Gilgamesh "Stupid, handsome bastard I glad Shirou kills you off in UBW." Issei growled under his breath. "You should never have killed Illya too in the first place."

The circle feed of the jealousy, hate and anger that flowed form the boy.

"And yet…and yet, you were so cool when you used the EA against Broskander." Issei whispered "Which is why I am going to steal your most iconic phrase form you, King of Heroes and make it my own."

With that Issei lifted his hand in gesture as if he was holding something, like a handle of a sword or in this case a key.

Twisting his wrists Issei said the words that unlocked his dormant power like a dam bursting forth and filling every inch of his body, pushing the 15 year old boy in the life of a Magician.

"Open, Gates of Babylon." And with that darkness claimed him.

###############

Issei woke up after some time, it seems that after he had unlock his 'Prana', he had passed out for some time, thankfully not too long and had woken up just in time for dinner and then proceeded to erase the ritual circle.

Mentally using his newfound trigger he summoned his 'Prana'.

It first came to him like a slow trickle, then with some more tries it then slowly began to feel like a stream of water with his will guiding where he wanted it to go.

Pushing it into his hands, Issei was even able to create small wisps of lights, which were faint, almost translucent and bluish in appearance.

"It works…it really works. Hahahaha" Issei laughed, his eyes began to moist with joy. "Now I can peep on girls anytime I want." He openly cried, not feeling a single quota of shame at his intension.

After crying a bit more, Issei calmed down, wiping his tears.

"I should try some of the spells to see if they work or else it would have been all for nothing." Issei mumbled.

Flipping over the book, Issei found the spell that was both ideal for testing and would be immensely helpful in the long run.

The spell was 'Scan', like its name suggests it is a spell that allows the user to gain information on the targeted object. It was much like 'Structural Analysis' from fate in all regards and cheap as hell in terms of 'Prana'.

So after going through the basic concepts of the spell, Issei prepared himself to use it.

"Now what should I use it upon?" Issei wondered as he looked around for a target. His eyes landed on his school books, which gave him an idea.

"If it works and does what I think it would do, then school would be a breeze here on out."

Putting his hand on top of the Science textbook, Issei drew upon his prana and slowly directed it upon the book and said "Scan".

Issei felt his prana surge forth following his command and intent, as it began to cover the book in a bluish glow as the spell took effect. Issei knew he was using more prana than necessary as even though the spell was supposed to provide info, it also required a bit of calculations and input about the object too to further cut the prana cost.

Even though it was a cheap spell, Issei himself was just starting out thus he did not have much control over his prana much.

Issei saw and felt the spell taking effect and he started to smile.

Issei felt information about the book bombarding his mind through the spell, first, the dimensions of the book, then the number of pages, the stains on the cover, the wrinkles on the pages and then every word, every figure, picture, facts and theories inside the book.

The information came at such a fast rate that Issei's brain could not process them all at once; giving Issei a headache and making him end the spell prematurely.

"That…that was painful." Issei groaned, clutching his throbbing head. The headache while not that painful was unexpected and the sudden influx of info had given him a bit of vertigo.

Still, when Issei reviewed what he had managed to glean from the spell, he was surprised when he had managed to remember almost a quarter of the text. The info was a bit disjointed, with full of holes as he could not remember all but Issei was surprised at how much he had managed to retain and remember with almost a picture perfect clarity.

Though, it was not like Issei had fully understood what the words fully meant, which still meant that Issei had to study and listen in the class to get by.

"Though even this much means that I don't have to worry about failing ever again." Issei observed "Solomon was right when he said ' _To be a Magician is to be a Cheating Cheater._ '" Issei grinned as he remembered what Solomon had written in the book. "And I am now one of those Cheating Cheaters."

Issei tried out some few other spells like scrying, conjuring and a few enhancement spells.

He found scrying to be what he expected and though the image it produced was quite blurry and only worked at a short distance. For Issei that was fine as it meant that he would have to practice it quite a lot, which he was eager to do so.

Conjuring was what it was named to a tee, it conjured various objects and Issei was able to banish them at will too. Living objects were of course out of the spells reach but anything else was fair game.

Issei thought that it was quite an unfair spell with how cheap it was in prana and how easy it was to conjure an object. Sure the more complicated the object, the more prana it cost and along with various other factors the prana cost went up but the book said that it would never fail to produce an object as long as one had enough prana, except for gold obviously and that the object was almost permanent unless it was destroyed or banished by the conjurer.

What was more absurd was that if the person knew the object too well, the prana cost of conjuring it would be so less it might as well be non-existent.

Normally this fact would not be game breaking at all as the conjured items were very fragile though they were able to tank multiple hits they were not as durable as the original item. Combine those factors with how complicated even a mundane item could be, the cost of conjuring them more often than not was not worth it in the long run.

Thus it was treated as a basic spell to conjure simple items in times of emergency.

For Issei that fact was irrelevant and he regarded the spell as a game-breaker. Why? Some may ask of how such a simple spell was game breaking? Well Issei had seen a faker use a similair spell and use it to great heights. While he was sure he might not be able to use it like Emiya did, he was still going to abuse the hell out of the spell.

The enhancement spells were also gold for Issei. There was one for enhancing strength, one for speed and agility, endurance, defence etc. they were even item enhancement spells which increased sharpness, durability, mass etc.

Also like all spells the more Issei knew about the object the better he could enhance it with the spells for a low cost.

He was seeing a pattern here with all the spells. All of them required him to be extremely knowledgeable to cut their usage cost and boost their overall performance too.

'No wonder the Magicians are depicted as wise scholarly men. They had to be in order to be great magicians.' Issei thought, as he reviewed what he had learnt.

While this revelation meant that Issei had to study extremely hard in order to be even an average magician, he was not daunted by his increased work load as he could use scan to really cut down his study time. It was pure cheating, a massive insult to all hard-working students and yet it was so like a magician after all

' _A magician is a Cheating Cheater_.'

Still, Issei knew that simply using Scan would not make him a good magician, he would still have to give in more individual effort and work hard to keep advancing, after which he might someday complete his goals too.

He also felt like he was missing something still, though he had no idea what he was missing.

'The path of a Harem King is going to be long and filled with obstacles.'

It was a thought which make his let loose a laugh but one that he was now determined to work hard for.

'I don't know what the supernatural world holds but with magic I do have some protection against it.' Issei grimly thought, he while was happy and elated to learn about magic and that it was real. It had also proven that the world was not what it seemed and that the supernatural still existed and was real as anything on earth.

The monsters that kill for entertainment, the devils that sought to corrupt the pure and damn them for eternity, the vampires that wooed their prey with their supernatural charms and fed on their life blood, them and so many more, the world seemed to become a more dangerous place.

'Damn Nasu and your unforgiving Moonlight world.' Issei thought all joy now gone filled with dread and fear, as he remembered the monsters of the moonlight world. He knew that they were fictional and thus he had no reason to fear.

But with the existence of magic, he was feeling unsure of whether the depictions were true or the reality was even worse than that. He dare not think too optimistically about the supernatural as even in folklore they wore masks upon masks of lies and deceit.

He was a bit scared, he would admit but now he had a minor protection against them in the form of magic and he knew that to protect himself better, he would work his ass off, because he refuse to let the supernatural stand in his way of his goals.

'I vowed to become a harem king and vowed to surpass Gilgamesh himself.' Issei decided his face full of determination. 'I refuse to let the supernatural get the better of me, until I become a harem king and fondle the perfect pair of breasts.' While his thoughts were not what you would say normal, they did give strengthened his will and fuel his desire to become a strong magician.

Issei in that moment looked outside of his window and gazed upon the full moon, shining in the clear night sky and made his solemn vow.

"I vow upon the moon itself and stake my pride and goal of becoming the Harem King to become the greatest magician the world has ever seen and surpass the might King of Uruk, himself. I from now on would prepare myself to face everything the moonlight world has to offer and overcome them." Issei proclaimed, staking his dreams which he regarded to be more precious than his life.

"But would the moonlight world be ready for me?" Issei said as if questioning the moon itself, asking whether it would challenge his claim.

As if in response to his words…his challenge…the moon shine brighter as it seem to accept his vow.

'Ready or not, Moonlight world, here comes the future Harem King.' Issei thought gazing at the blue moon in the night sky.

###############

 **AN:- Another random plot bunny that is screwing with my head while I was writing the next chapter of the Summoner of Heroes, and damn would it not leave me alone.**

 **So any ways this is Magician Issei, which is very uncommon in this site and well not many seems to have any interest writing one.**

 **As usual for me, this is going to be a multi-cross, because I really like screwing up with the multiverse, I blame Space Battles and its multi-cross galore stories.**

 **Anyways while the Fate elements seem very blatant, I am going to add some nifty tricks of Fate and Nasu and expand on that. Also some elements of Fate would come out, hopefully not left field, but really surprise the heck out of you all.**

 **I also do not plan on dropping my Fate: Summoner of Heroes, so be on the look-out for that too.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

For the next two weeks Issei tried to keep his new magical studies secret from his parents and friends. He had begun to delve deeper into the heart of magic itself, going through all the spells in the book, he also read the book about the runes and summoning, after scanning them first that is.

He was now able to fully memorise and retain everything in the book in a single scan. It had greatly cut his reading and studying time. Though, ironically he now preferred to read more and more.

'It must be the budding magician in me.' Issei mused as the thought about his new hobby.

He thought back on the past two weeks, astonished at how little seemed to have changed in his usual lifestyle. He had thought that he would have changed after his first taste of magic yet nothing seemed to have changed his personality, behaviour or his lifestyle. It was like he was still a normal 15 year old boy and not a Magician-in-training.

'Must be because of how little my routine had changed.' Issei thought, as he looked back on his slightly different timetable.

He still went to school; he still hanged around with his friends, went to shops and arcades, have a bit of fun, do some chores at home and return to his room to play some games and study. It was a simple ordinary routine.

Except now instead of studying he was now practicing magic, his scan spell cutting his usual study time by a lot, and his usual games and xxx-rated videos were getting less attention but they were not completely ignored.

So far Issei himself was happy with how he was progressing and had no reason to rapidly advance yet. During the weekends he was able to cram in more of his magical studies than he did in the entire week and thus far there were no complications, so he saw no reason to change his routine.

Still he was thinking of mixing it up a bit sometime in the future to not let it become monotonous and a chore. Not to mention he had a ridiculously huge amount of free time these days.

With his spells and magic, school was now ridiculously easy and with no club and activities to hinder him and no special school events, he had a lot of time to spare. He did enjoy spending time with his friends but even they were not always available.

So here was Issei in front of his computer mulling over how he should spend his free time.

'I have to find some more hobbies.' Issei decided, while he would like to increase the time spent on his magical studies, he did not want it to consume practically every waking minute of his life, thus he was moderating it for now.

'Crafting seems like a good hobby.' Issei thought as he went through what hobby he should pick up. 'It seems interesting enough for me and it would even help my magical studies, which is a bonus too.' While Issei was not going to let magic consume every waking moment of his life, he had to admit that it was now a part of his life too.

His hobbies and studies both could go hand in hand and it was not like he can't drop it once it proved to be detrimental too.

'So let's see what kind of crafting I should take up' Issei mused as he went through the available types of crafting. 'Paper-Craft? Why not, not to mention I could use it with shikigami spells that I might find. Wood-craft? It would be good for decorating my room along with using my runic magic. Next is…' and with that Issei spent his afternoon going through the various crafts which caught his interest and could practice without raising an alarm.

#############

 **The next day**

"You know Issei. If I had known you were going to make us pack mules I would never have agreed to come with you." Motohama said feeling a bit irritated at being relegated to being a pack mule and carry all the stuff that his friend had bought for his new hobby.

He was carrying two bags of crafting material that Issei had bought from the market. He was one of Issei's best friends and was the top student of their class, he was average looking boy, who if people saw for the first time would peg him as a responsible and studious type, which while he was at times. Motohama was also a pervert and had bonded with Issei over their love for the opposite sex.

"I agree with him too." Matsuda, who was also carrying his share of shopping bags, commented, sharing the same feeling of irritation as his friend.

Matsuda was Issei other best friend, who while was not the most handsome boy in the school was the top athlete of the school and had won several medals for his school too. He too shared the same interest in women and girls as the other two boys and had quickly become best of friends in very short time.

"Oh shut up you two. I did promise that I would help you guys buy the latest edition of the 'Masters & Slaves: Dark Tournament' game didn't I." Issei answered not even glancing at them engrossed in the handicraft book that he had just bought.

"And that is why we are still carrying the bags, while you are reading that book." Motohama pointed out, the game that Issei was talking about was one that was of questionable nature, due to it being more than 40% filled with sex scenes and was pegged as a porno, though people often forget that it had an engrossing storyline too.

"Still, why are you suddenly interested in Handicraft, Issei?" Motohama asked, curious at his friend sudden interest in Handicraft. He while not wanting to say ill of his friend, did never thought of him as someone who could do productive things and take initiative of...well anything.

Motohama knew that Issei was mostly a follower and a damn loyal friend and while he did have qualities of a leader, he had never seen Issei exercise those qualities ever. He also had never seen Issei interested in anything but porn and breasts too. So he was curious of why suddenly Issei was taking handicraft as his 'Hobby'.

'He must have met a girl who is interested in handicraft and wants to impress her.' Motohama concluded, as the reason for Issei's sudden interest in the peculiar hobby. He had never seen Issei do something that was not tied with girls or breasts, thus Motohama concluded that a girl must be involved.

'Lucky bastard, I wonder if he will introduce her to us.'

"Well…the reason I am taking handicraft as a hobby is because after seeing how both of you are busy with your student council duties and the track team, I realised that I had a lot of free time in my hand and thus thought of taking up a hobby to pass the time." Issei replied telling them the truth.

"Yeah right…" Motohama scoffed "…and this is not you trying to impress a girl, is it."

"Wait Issei you're trying to impress a girl?" Matsuda shouted at Motohama's words, "Not fair man, not fair. At least introduce her to us first."

Issei grumbled under his breath and Motohama didn't catch what he was saying but it was something about 'overthinking things' and 'jumping to conclusions'.

"Look guys. Is it so unbelievable that I want to do something that does not involve girls?" Issei asked, depressed that his friends could not believe he was simply getting a hobby.

""Yes"" Motorhome and Matsuda deadpanned.

Sighing Issei simply gave them a levelled look and said "Guys, look and believe me when I say that I have not met some girl and am trying to impress her" 'or at least none for now.' Issei privately thought. "Both of you while are reputed to be a pervert like me, are also greatly respected in the school, with Motohama the top student and Student Council President and Matsuda the start Athlete of our school."

"Compared to you guys I am just an average guy with no redeeming qualities like you two. I am just an average guy with no redeeming qualities and a pervert to boot it is like I am leeching off you two and the students say that I am corrupting both of you."

Hearing their friend say that made Motohama and Matsuda feel a bit guilty about suspecting him. They knew that Issei while he had no qualms about others insulting him and calling him names but he also had a lot of pride in himself and his capabilities which while were average was something that he was proud of as it showed his hard work.

Issei was no genius or prodigy like them and thus all his accomplishments were achieved via hard work, and thus he was proud of his achievements. The thought of others calling him a leech must have really gotten to him.

'I really should have seen this coming with the rumours and Issei's pride.' Motohama thought feeling guilty about having Issei go through such a phase. 'Some President and friend I am, I should have squashed those rumours long before they got to him like this.'

"And you know it seemed that girls these days are quite interested in boys who are artistic. Who knows if I become good at crafting and arts I might get a cute girl to become my personal model for my craft."

'And there is the Issei I know.' Motohama sweat dropped "Damn you and your devious mind Issei." He cursed him.

"What feeling jealous that you didn't thought of it?" Issei smirked.

All semblance of pity that he was feeling for his friend went out of the window at that moment. "Dream on, Hyoudou, like hell would any sensible girl would become a model for an oppai-baka like you."

"Back at you too, you perverted scouting ero-president, no cute girl wants to be your secretary which is why you are stuck with that pretty boy, Uzumaki."

"Hey take that back, I'll have you know that I have girls flocking to join the student's council."

"Yeah, I'll admit that you have girls flocking over to join the council..." Motohama smirked at Issei admitting that fact "…but it is because of Uzumaki and not because of you."

And thus they began arguing like they always did, throwing jabs at each other and trying to bring the other on their level.

Off to the side 'I wonder if Issei would agree to craft some models of the track team.' Matsuda wondered, already believing that his friend would be a great artist and craftsman as he knew that once Issei was determine to do something there was simply no stopping him.

Issei was now in his room going through the crafting materials that he had bought. He even if he would not admit it, was thankful to his friends for helping him buy the materials. If he had to buy with his own allowance he would not even have been able to buy half the things he had bought today.

"Motohama sure knows how to get discounts on quality products." Marvelling at his friend's amazing negotiating and bargaining skills, Issei could see why the school was able to buy high quality equipment at a really meagre budget ever since Motohama had become the president.

"I should thank him and Matsuda later, for now I should get started on the practicing some handicraft."

With that Issei started going through the books about crafting and practice a bit of paper craft.

He had to admit that while it paper craft and origami may seem rather easy when others were doing it, actually doing it was rather hard. Still, hard as it may be Issei actually found it to be fun and was soon engrossed in making complicated origami.

'This is quite fun.' Issei thought 'I wonder what would happen if I drew some runes on them?'

That was a really interesting idea. Issei then tested out with some minor runes like ones that increased durability and air runes.

 **After some time**

"I can't believe that it works." Issei commented as he saw the assorted paper cranes and birds fly in his room, leaving faint shimmering blue lights as they glided across his room.

"And they are really durable too." Issei noted as he saw some of the origami crash on the wall yet did not crumple even one bit.

Issei then started to gather the origami least his parents come in and saw them flying across the room. While he could explain how they were gliding and what not, he could not explain the shimmering trails they left behind without outing his magical abilities, one which he was not prepare to share with his parents.

"This is quite great. I wonder what else I can do with paper craft. I do know that onmyouji in manga use paper to use their techniques so can I follow their method and do that?" Now that Issei thought about it. He could do a lot with paper craft from onmyouji to the weird paper bending powers from R.O.D. it really had some scary potential from steel shredding paper to flight. Add in runes and paper craft had simply turned into a very versatile art.

"Scary." Issei shivered as he thought of all the possible techniques and moves he could pull off with paper craft. "I am never looking at books or paper the same way again."

Looking at the origami ideas upon ideas flooded into his mind. Simple strengthening runes and some origamis and he could potentially create traps that could capture someone or even help him set powerful runic arrays by using some overlapping mechanism and the likes.

"I better write them down or else I might forget them." Issei mused as he thought of the various ideas that were popping in his mind. Picking his notebook Issei began to write down all the ideas that came to his mind and the possible theories.

After some hours, Issei was finally done, though looking at the list he created Issei could not help but think how large of a task it was going to be.

"I am going to need help." Issei decided the list was just too large to complete and test in a reasonable time frame without some help.

"And what better help can a magician have than his familiars." Issei grinned at the prospect of summoning a familiar, he was looking forward to summoning or creating one ever since he had found out that magic was real but was undecided on how to go about doing it.

Picking up the 'Book of Summoning' Issei skim though it to find some methods to summon a suitable familiar for himself.

After sometime he was finally able to narrow it down to three rituals.

"Hmm, the first one is the generic familiar summoning." Issei muttered as he went through his choices again. "This one would allow me to summon anything from a normal animal to even gods and demons. Quite risky all things considered but with the instructions and safeguards listed I should be able to safely bind anything that I summon though it would take some time to prepare everything for the ritual."

The first choice seemed quite straightforward and the best rate of success but was also quite risky even with all the safeguards in place in case he summoned something that he should not. Still this seemed like quite the ideal choice of for him.

"Next is the Golem Familiar summoning and boy is this one complicated as hell." And what a summoning ritual it was. The ritual as far as Issei knew was basically a poor man's version of the Heaven's Feel. The ritual like its name was basically a golem creation but with a twist the golem would be empowered by summoning an entity and letting it inhabit the golem which acted like its vessel. The golem in turn would gain all the abilities of the summoned entity and gain some additional boost in its prowess. The golem would then work like a familiar and be basically run on the magical energies of the Summoner.

It was a bit more complicated than that but from what Issei gathered from the notes this was basically the Servant Summoning from Fate with the golem acting as one of the servant classes.

Issei was very much tempted to go through with this summoning as the ritual could summon just about anything even characters from stories as evident by the example given in the book but there were some catches.

The vessel, i.e. the golem, would only be as strong as the vessel that is created and thus summoning very powerful entities would simply be weakening them greatly. Sure the golem could be upgraded and enhanced over its life time but even that might not be enough to make up for the lost power.

Still it was not like Issei was looking to summon planet crushing entities in the first place, so Issei really wanted to try and see all the possible results of the summoning.

'The third one is the most complicated yet the safest and easiest to use.' Issei thought as he reviewed the details of the ritual. The ritual was a modified version of the generic summoning ritual. At its core it was a familiar summoning ritual but the Summoner was able to set the criteria of what sort of creatures the ritual could summon.

This provided the Summoner a great deal of control over the summoning and if the Summoner was clever enough, he could just about summon anything into existence provided the Summoner was compactible and had the power to bind the summoned creature/being.

Looking at the list Issei was greatly leaning toward the latter two rituals but he also wanted to see what kind of creature would be compatible with him too. Issei finally decided not to do a generic summoning as he did not want to summon some eldritch monstrosity by mistake so he was only going to try the latter two.

"Well looks like I am going to try the golem summoning since that seems like the best one so far." Issei decided "It should make for some interesting choices." Issei mused, thinking of all the possible outcomes of the rituals.

"Better start preparing then."

 **Two months later**

Time passed by for Issei as he continued on with his daily routine.

In the past two months he had made good enough progress in his magical studies and had gathered all the required materials for his summoning rituals.

Summer break had started just last week and for Issei it was an ideal time to perform the rituals and sort everything out. In fact he had even found a good isolated place, an abandoned warehouse, where he could do the summoning and maybe even set up a temporary workshop to.

"Man, am I using a lot of Fate-terms." Issei mumbled as he went over his thoughts again, no really while he was a mage in the traditional sense. Issei like to think of himself as a magus and try to follow the codes and conducts of Magi though he was never going to take it as far as the Nasu-verse magi.

Issei had also created a rudimentary golem too for the summoning ritual one that while not the best out there was still passable, though Issei had made it in such a way that it was easy to modify and upgrade. He had stored the golem in the abandoned warehouse.

"I really am lucky that the books had knowledge on how to create golems too."

Looking at the clock Issei got dressed and packed all his equipment and the materials required for the rituals.

"Better head out and perform the ritual before it gets dark. No night summoning for me."

Issei wanted to perform his summoning during daytime as it gave him ample amount of time to tackle all the kinks in the ritual. The fact that the book had also warned him that night time summoning tended to summon some nocturnal and dark creature also prompted him to go this route.

"I'm heading out mom." Issei informed his mother.

"Come back before dinner Issei." His mother called out from the kitchen. "And don't hit on any girls on the way." His mother added making Issei stumble at the door.

"Have some faith in your son mother!" Issei shouted mortified that his mother thought of him like that.

"Your my son but you are also your father's son which is why I am warning you." Her mother promptly replied. "Take care and enjoy your day Issei."

"One day I am going to ask my old man just what he did back in his youth." Issei grumbled his parents never seemed to complain about his behaviour and in fact took in stride like they were expecting it. While Issei was happy his parents supported him and did give him advise time to time he knew that their behaviour was far from normal and whenever he asked they would just say that they had seen something like this in their youth, though they never did seem share the details with him, ever.

Grumbling about his parent Issei made his way to the abandoned warehouse.

Unpacking his items Issei began to prepare for the rituals. "Let's get started shall we."

After three hours of preparing Issei was finally ready to begin his summoning ritual.

The catalyst he was using for the golem was a figurine of Tamamo no Mae from Fate/Extra. Issei wanted to see if using the figurine as a catalyst would work or not.

In case it worked Issei would have a powerful yet loyal familiar who would also double as his teacher too and if he failed than he had other catalysts with him to try out, so it was no great loss.

Still if Issei was able to summon Tamamo than he wanted to see whether or not she retain all her powers and Noble Phantasms and if she got a boost by being summoned in Japan. This way Issei would know whether it was a good idea to summon Servants or not.

Issei then put the golem in the middle of the ritual circle in a sitting position with the figurine in its lap.

Taking a good look at the golem "It's now or never." Issei muttered, his body was shaking with unbridle anticipation at the thought of the ritual.

Taking a deep breath Issei began to chant.

"Oh spirits of the nature, creatures of the night and servants of the light."

Issei chanted, the words easily flowing through his lips. He had after all memorised the chant with the judicious usage of the 'scan' spell and committed it to his memory.

"I beseech thee to hear my call and answer my plea."

Issei felt his magic flow through him and activate the circle which began to glow in an ethereal blue light.

"I ask for a companion, a teacher, a friend for a lifetime."

The chant was simple, strange and fitting. The ritual was supposed to be a familiar summon but by the way the chant was written it was like an honest soul simply asking for a friend. Well Issei supposed that familiars were some of the closest friends a mage could have at times.

"With my hands I have crafted thee a vessel to inhabit and with these hands I plead to you answer this call."

Issei felt the circle gather more and more power, draining him of every bit of magic from his body.

"Come forth from the realms beyond my reach and into the mortal world where I stand."

Pain racked his body as he felt all his magic go into the circle draining him like a husk. He felt himself blacking out as he was being deprived of his magic.

'Not yet…not yet, I am not done yet.' Issei screamed in his mind trying desperately to cling onto his consciousness and complete the chant.

"This is m-my pact, my of-offer to you…"

Issei could no longer tolerate the pain as his mind blank out, the circle dimmed and he fell into the loving embrace unconsciousness.

"And I accept this pact my master." A melodious voice rang in the empty warehouse.

A young woman dressed in a blue kimono, cradling the unconscious mage in her lap.

The woman was beautiful with fair skin and pink flowing hair, with a pair of fox-like ears adoring her head and the nine tails that twirled protectively over the unconscious boy.

"Sleep well and dream, my master. For I, Tamamo no Mae, have heard your call and have come forth to be with you in passing and in health, in life and in death." The woman solemnly said as she cradled the boy.

"For now let's head home, master."

And just like that the woman and the boy disappeared leaving an empty warehouse behind them, the ritual circle dispersing in blue molten lights and leaving behind no trace of it, as familiar and master left for home.

For the supernatural world, the ritual did not go unnoticed but it was soon forgotten as it was seemed to have no impact on their current life and duties. For those that did try to find and investigate the ritual they were met with dead ends as master and familiar were long gone leaving behind an empty warehouse.

Truly Fate had played its part now all that was left was for the boy to follow the set path.

"Don't you agree Gaia?"

"Whatever you say Philemon, whatever you say."

 **AN:- Done and done. Here is the next chapter with a curveball thrown in the last bit. So what do you think Gaia and Philemon are up to and boy is that a dozzy. The will of the world cooperating with the will of Humanity, fate fans will rage at this.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It was a brand new day and Issei woke up bright and fresh in his bed. It was bright and sunny and Issei could not help but feel good about this day.

"Wait a minute," Issei muttered as he replayed his previous memories "was I not supposed to be summoning my familiar."

Just then he heard some voices downstairs, one he recognised as his mother but the other belonged to someone he didn't recognise.

"Oh…..this is so good Mizu-chan. You really know how to cook great dishes."

"You're just too kind honoured mother, I am not that good."

"Nonsense, you are a great cook and that is it. I am sure you will make good wife in the future with your skills."

"You think so…um...well my dream is to be good wife for my husband and…and I am really happy to hear that from you honoured mother."

"You will make a lovely wife Mizu-chan though why it had to be my less than useless son that had to be your husband. Well I am not complaining I getting such a lovely daughter in law in any case."

Issei who had been listening to their conversation could not help but shout out.

"MY WIFE!"

"Well it looks like Ise has woken up Mizu-chan. Why don't you go and get him? I'll set the table in the meantime." His mother told 'Mizu'.

"Okay honoured mother, please don't hesitate to call me if you need any help." 'Mizu' replied and Issei hear her come upstairs towards his room.

Opening the door Issei was greeted to the sight of a young girl with cheery pink hair and bright golden yellow eyes dressed in yellow tank top, a pair of blue jeans and an apron.

Issei was a bit stunned at seeing the girl as she was quite beautiful, the clothes both enhancing and hiding her figure in a bewitching manner and her bountiful bounty attracting his eyes. Issei was simply spell bound by the girl's beauty.

"My, my what a lecherous master I have." Mizu's voice snapping Issei out of his dazed state as he stared at the girl before him, "I do wonder what is going on in your mind, master? Is it some plan to ravage me or something more intimate and depraved?"

Issei ignored the questions posed to him as he focused on the way the girl was addressing him.

"Master?" he asked not sure what the girl meant.

The girl seemed to have caught on to his confusion as she said, "It seems like you have forgotten who I am, my master. Maybe this would help."

And like a shimmering image cast in water, the girl's visage changed, her head now sprouted a pair of fox and behind her Issei could see nine bushy fox tails.

Issei instantly recognised the girl before him. After all he had several figurines of her in his room.

"Remember me now master? I would be most disappointed if you didn't." the girl smiled coyly at him.

"Tama-Tamamo no Mae" Issei stuttered still not believing the sight before him.

Tamamo giggled at his response than grabbing his hand she lead him downstairs.

"We should go before we the food gets cold, my master." Tamamo said as her fox ears and tails vanished like mist, "I am sure you will greatly enjoy my cooking." She said with a bright smile.

Issei for his part was still in the process of rebooting his brain.

* * *

The breakfast was a quite affair and enjoyable affair. Issei was still out of it but the incredible taste of the food had greatly helped him get a handle on his bearings.

After breakfast Issei told his mother that he was going to the town with 'Mizukume' the name Tamamo had given to his parents and spend the day with her. He wanted some answers from the now more than real Heroic Spirit and he wanted to do it somewhere away from his parents.

His mother for her part was overjoyed at the prospect and was even giving him tips and warning about what to do and what not to do with his day out with Mizukume. It seems that Tamamo had somehow managed to create a really good cover story for herself which Issei was still not aware off. That was another question that he was going to ask her.

So here he was walking with Tamamo towards one of the many secret places that he had discovered in the past two months. The warehouse which he had used for the summoning was a good place and all but Issei somehow had a feeling that if he went there he was going to get into a lot of trouble. So he decided to go to one of the many isolated clearings in the area where they could talk undisturbed and away from prying eyes.

He felt Tamamo walking behind him like a dutiful servant, which she was in a sense but Issei could not help but exchange the word 'servant' with 'wife' because of what he knew about Tamamo's character.

Still Issei was a bit happy that she was complying with him for no.

After a while Issei and Tamamo were in an isolated clearing.

"So now that we are here shall mind telling me who or what are you again Tamamo?" Issei asked the fox-spirit. He had some ideas about what was going on but he wanted to hear it from Tamamo.

Tamamo simply nodded and began explaining the situation.

"Well I am Tamamo no Mae and I was summoned by you master as part of the ritual and have been bounded as your personal familiar."

"And what did you tell my parents about our situation?"

"Oh that, I simply told them that you proposed to me and I accepted and thus we are now engaged to each other." Tamamo replied with a sweet smile.

"Wait engaged! I thought that was just a joke." Issei shouted, while he was internally happy that he was engaged to a beautiful girl, that happiness was tempered with the fact that he was engaged to a beautiful girl.

'How am I going to become a Harem King if I am engaged so early?' he internally thought.

"What was that master?" Tamamo asked with a sweet smile on her face on that promised great pain unlike the one before, "I thought I heard you say that you are planning on cheating on me?" she closed the distance between them and hugged him and whispered in his ears.

"I would be very _hurt_ if that was the case, my dear master. You don't want to hurt me now do you master?" she whispered sending chills down his spine.

Even if she had not said it, the hidden threat was clear as day. Issei gulped feeling the cold sweat dripping from his face.

"O-of course not Tamamo. I plan on getting your approval before chasing the girls." Issei replied tying to stem his nervousness. _'Damn her threats to hell and back. I am not going to back down after I promised to surpass Gilgamesh himself.'_ That had being his promise and Issei was going to fight tooth and nail to achieve it.

Tamamo quirked an eyebrow and smiled coyly at him "My, my, what a bold and lecherous master I have." She said caressing his face with her soft hands, "While I will allow you to chase others with my permission, in time I will make it so that you will only look at me with these loving eyes master."

"Sounds like you plan to seduce me Tamamo." Issei replied trying his best not to give in to her ministrations.

"Of course my master, after that is what a kistune does, don't they?" she asked rhetorically. Then letting him go Tamamo changed the topics, "Now that is out of the way shall we continue with our conversation, my master."

Issei felt disappointed not being hugged by Tamamo and missing the feeling of the lovely pair. But he decided that it was better to continue their discussion.

'Still who knew Tamamo was so seductive.'

"That is because a familiar is a reflection of their summoner my master. So for someone as lecherous as you my master having a seductive familiar should be a given, shouldn't It." Tamamo said as if reading his thoughts.

"And yes I can read your thoughts. It is but one of the many benefits of the familiar bond." Okay that answered his question and raised several more. He really should get going with the questions.

"Okay than Tamamo explain to me about…" and with that Issei began to lay down all his questions.

It took some time to finish their little question and answer session but Issei had learnt enough.

It seemed that Tamamo no Mae had all her powers and had been summoned at her full power to boot too. The problem was while Tamamo had all her powers she could not use them to their fullest as the vessel that Issei had created for her could not handle all that power and would start breaking down long before she unleashed her power.

For now both Tamamo and Issei guessed that she could use only about 20% of her powers safely and push it to around 40-50% before her body starts breaking down, any more than that and her body would instantly vaporise due to the sheer power she outputted.

Tamamo also said that it was possible to increase the durability of her body via her familiar mark. Said familiar mark was on her back which she showed him.

Issei would say that he was happy for the free show but it was still an embarrassing situation. For Tamamo she did not view it as embarrassing as she was his wife to be and such activities should be expected between the two of them. She really seemed intent on seducing him.

As for the familiar marking, it was a bit strange one. It took the form of a large circle with the symbols of Fire, Water, Air and Earth with the Roman Numeral One at its centre. At the upper right corner of the circle was a hand pointing up and the down left corner was another hand pointing down.

Then above the circle was a symbol of infinity and below the circle was as snake biting its own tail but that was not all above the infinity symbol was the head of the dragon and below the snake the serpentine tail and at the sides of the circle two large bat like wings which Issei guessed were the dragon's wings. The inner parts of the circle were coloured in dull white and the outer edges were red in colour. Overall it was nothing like Issei had ever seen in his life, hell Issei had never seen anything like this even in games and anime.

It was simply strange.

While Issei had been trying to guess what the marking meant, Tamamo had taken the opportunity to tease the hell out of him.

Anyways Tamamo had told him that due to the summoning ritual the golem body that Issei had prepared had been altered into a true body and it was only though the marking Issei could modify and perform further enhancements. They even tried it and were successful in making small enhancements and some modifications.

Though Issei prayed that Tamamo would get her moans under control in the future, they were…distracting to say the least.

After the modification Issei decided to debate with Tamamo on the magical topics and such and see what they both knew and what they could help each other with.

For Tamamo there was nothing that she seemed inclined to learn and with her vast knowledge on the onmyouji techniques and witchcraft, there hardly seemed anything that Issei could help her with. So it was decided that Tamamo was going to help him with his magical training but before she started with her lessons Tamamo wanted to see what he knew and how to go about teaching him.

"Well for the most part I am great with buffing spells." Issei said as he explained his abilities.

"Buffing spells?" Tamamo questioned not familiar with the term.

"Ah, that is the general terms for spells that increase speed, enhance one's strengths, increase armours etc. basically any spells that improves a stat or attribute of the target, whether they be living or inanimate or magical objects." Issei explained.

"Oh" Tamamo said as she mulled over the explanation, then motion Issei to continue with his explanations.

"Then there is 'Conjuration' and 'Scan'. The former allows me to conjure any items based on my knowledge of the item. The more detailed my knowledge the better the item." Issei said as he conjured a small hammer in his hands. "I can even make it so that I can conjure items wherever I want in any direction in a radius of 9 meters." Issei said as he conjured a small hat on Tamamo's head.

"As for Scan it allows me to gather information about an object and while I cannot see into the objects history, it still provides me with a basic blueprint of the object, though I still have to make efforts on retaining said information about the object."

"A simple yet potent combination of spells, you have my master." Tamamo commented seeing just how potent the combo could be. "They are quite like the spells an insufferable Red Archer uses." Tamamo said not trying to hide the disdain in her voice.

'Okay so she remembers Emiya and he did something to her. Great.' Issei thought as he felt the sheer aura of disdain roll off Tamamo.

"Moving on…" Issei quietly said as he tried not to think about the topic.

"…I am good with paper magic and runes which I use in combination with some buffing spells too." Issei said as he took a roll of paper and transformed it into various shapes. He had put quite a lot of practice into it and for now Issei could shape paper into simple shapes and enhance them with runes and buffs.

He transformed the paper in a long stick then into a kite shield and into a pair of gauntlets and spiked boots.

"Hmm, master how durable are these papers." Tamamo asked as she stared at the shape shifting paper with an inquisitive gaze. It looked like she had some ideas about them.

"Why don't you test them?" Issei said as he transformed the paper into A kite shield again.

Tamamo for her part said nothing as she simply sent a talisman towards the shield, which promptly exploded into a pillar of fire.

Like the combustible nature of the relationship of fire and paper, the kite shield was reduced to ashes in an instant.

Issei created another kite shield this time with runes etched on the paper that hummed with a faint green glow.

Seeing what Issei was expecting of her Tamamo promptly sent another talisman towards the shield. This time the shield held for some moments before being reduced to ashes nonetheless.

"Master what were those runes?" Tamamo asked quite impressed that the runes were able to enhance and help a paper shield endure one of her attacks. She reckon that if the shield was made of metal and not paper than it would have survived much longer than the paper shield before turning into a puddle of molten metal.

"Simply some heat resistance and durability enhancing runes. Nothing much seeing how you turned it into ashes in seconds." Issei said as he looked at the ashes of the kite shield. The runes he had etched on it were supposed to make it heat resistance and face even the most intense flames. Seeing Tamamo reduced it to ashes in a near instant hammered in the fact of just how powerful a Heroic Spirit outclassed a normal mage.

"Now, now done be so down my master. You're still learning and if this is just a prelude to what you can achieve. The fact that the shield was able to even withstand my attack for mere moments is a testament to your potential." Tamamo said trying to sooth his wounded pride.

"You know if that is your weakest attack I wonder what is your strongest one?" Issei asked Tamamo genuinely curious about her true strength.

"Now, now my master, don't be in such a hurry to burn this world into ashes. It is after all our home." Tamamo replied leaving Issei stunned at the implication.

'Just how powerful is she?' Issei thought trying to recall all the abilities that Tamamo had in the games. 'Surely she is not as powerful as depicted in the games?' the things that Tamamo could do in the game were insane and she as nerfed due to having a bad master to boot too.

"Don't dwell on my powers my master, focus on the present for now." Tamamo said as she snapped Issei out of his thoughts.

'She must have heard my thoughts through the bond.' Issei thought, still quite unsure whether that feature was a boon or downside in his opinion.

Issei and Tamamo then spent the rest of the day testing Issei's various spells and techniques.

Issei had impressed Tamamo with his progress so far as she learnt that he had learnt all his in mere two months. While Tamamo admitted Issei was no genius the fact that he had been able to progress so much without any help and sheer hard work was something to be admired.

But now that Issei had her as his teacher Tamamo said that he was going to progress at a great rate. In her own words,

"With me by your side I can guarantee that you will become a magician to be feared in no time."

* * *

 **Two Weeks later.**

"I don't know what I am doing wrong." Tamamo cried, "The spell should have worked perfectly not blow up like that."

For the past two weeks Issei was been tutored by Tamamo in the arts of witchcraft and onmyouji techniques. While Issei was able to easily work with seals and shikigamis and incorporated them with his rune craft, the spells that Tamamo tried to teach him seemed to always fail and end up in explosions.

Tamamo was stumped at what was wrong with his spells and she just could not find out the reason behind it even with the vast unparalleled knowledge she had on witchcraft.

Tamamo was able to perform all the spells herself but Issei was unable to perform any one of them and it was not a matter of elemental attributes or magical power either, as the spells were mostly neutral and had little to no cost in terms of magic.

Issei was also not overloading the spells too and in fact some spells were designed in such a way that the more power one put into them, the more powerful they become, so that was not the case here either.

Looking at the scorched ground Issei sighed, "Looks like we have to resort to summoning after all."

"Guess you are right." Tamamo replied not wanting to go through with the summoning.

The duo, were going to summon a magical creature to help Issei with his magical studies.

The reason behind this was simple, for the past two weeks Tamamo had done everything in her ability to determine what was wrong with Issei and always came up blank. Issei theorised that it was because Tamamo was from a different universe with different rules and system of magic, which was why Issei may have been having trouble learning it.

Now while Issei had the book of magic by Solomon himself, the book was of no help to him in regard about learning the style of magic that Tamamo wanted to teach him and Issei really, really wanted to learn it after seeing it in action.

'I am going to learn how to shapeshift and nothing is going to stop me from getting to see the other side of heaven.' Issei thought determined to learn it so that he could mingle with the girls in the lockers.

Tamamo while disagreed with his reasons to learn her craft could not help but chuckle at the pervert yet simple reason for wanting to learn it. The fact that Issei would have to spend a great amount of time with her while trying to learn it was a sweet bonus in its own right.

"Still I wish I could find out why you are not able to cast my spells master." Tamamo said as she saw Issei prepare the summoning circle.

"Which is one of the reasons we are going through with this summon Tamamo. While I would admit that there is no one who can compare to you in witchcraft, having an outsider's perspective might help us in pointing out what we are doing wrong."

"I guess that is true but I still don't like it." Tamamo huffed as she thought about what some lowlife fae or supernatural creature would know about magic that she, an aspect of a goddess did not.

"A whole lot of things Tamamo, do note that witchcraft and onmyoujitsu is very different from traditional western magic." Issei replied as he heard her thoughts through the link.

"Point." Tamamo conceded "By like I said, I don't like this master."

"Neither do I but we have little choice." Issei replied smiling at his familiar.

After some hours of preparation Issei was finished preparing the summoning circle and Tamamo had finished setting up the appropriate barriers and charms to not only hide the summoning but to also trap the summoned creature in case it turned hostile.

The summoning this time was still a familiar ritual but tweaked a bit so that it could help Issei control some of the more hostile creatures. Tamamo had recommended completely binding the summoned creature to his will but Issei decided that he would only do it if the creature turned out to be truly hostile.

Still he did set it up some countermeasures just in case.

With the book in hand Issei began to chant the lines for the summoning.

This time even if it was a familiar ritual, Issei felt that the drain was not as extreme as he had felt summoning Tamamo. He reckoned that it might be because of the difference in power between the two. While that was a bit disappointing, Issei was glad that he won't be facing a powerhouse in case things went south.

The circle shimmered and glowed with power as Issei kept on chanting, sparks began to fly and the talismans that Tamamo set up began to lit up as Issei felt the circle perform its task.

The symbols on the circle glowed and began to moving clockwise and anticlockwise in a slow rhythmic pace and gaining speed as Issei kept on chanting.

Blurring and changing their form the symbols floated in air in a brilliant display of colours.

The air began to hum in a melodic tune as it weaved and circled around the symbols, gaining a distinct green hue.

"Arise as I command thee, arise and bind yourself to me and accept me as thy master for eternity. ARISE!" Issei chanted the last lines of the spell.

The symbols in respond twisted in the air and shattered in a display of bright blue lights, which began to converge and merge with each other. Then in a flash the blue lights slammed into the ground like lighting scorching it and forming a familiar seal in the ground.

Issei looked at the seal and knew what it was. He intimately knew the seal as it was one that Solomon had written greatly about in the book.

It was a seal, representing one of the seventy-two pillars of the underworld, a seal that indicated the arrival of the demons of hell.

"Tamamo get ready!" Issei shouted at his familiar as the seal began to light up, in his mind there was no doubt about it that the creature that he had summoned was a demon and knew that he would need Tamamo's help in binding the creature.

The seal began to glow with power and out of it came a devil.

Issei seeing the creature before him was quite surprised as he had steeled himself for meeting a demon whose form was supposed to be terrifying and inhuman. Not the all so human appearance that it donned.

The demon spoke with scorn and anger in its voice as it introduced itself.

"By your summoning I have come. Yee who have bind me to your will for eternity and beyond, I ask of you, are you my master."

Issei could feel the power rolling off the demon and while terrified of it, he steeled himself to finalise the contract.

"Yes I am Issei Hyoudou, you master from here on out till eternity itself and I command thee to state your name." Issei said following the advice of solomon who had mention that knowing the names of demons went a long way in controlling them.

"I acknowledge thee as my master, Issei Hyoudou. As for my name, I am…"

* * *

 **AN: And done with this chapter. Not a good one but I felt that it was necessary for the future framework of the story.**

 **Now Tamamo may come off as seductress but there is a reason behind it and well you will see it in the next chapter or so.**

 **Also yes Nasu-verse mechanics work to a degree but this is DxD where magic follows its own rules too. And I decided to go with the DxD style magic with Nasu-verse mechanics backing it up in some places.**

 **Now as for the final bit, yes I am going to make Issei have a devil familiar and yes it is going to someone you guys know off. In fact I am going to let you guys choose who it is going to be.**

 **Now before I get flooded with request of Rais and Akeno, no just no. those two are not going to be ones Issei has summoned.**

 **I HAVE MADE A LIST AND I AM NOT GOING TO TAKE SUGGESTIONS OTHER THAN THEM.**

 **Sorry if that grinds yours gears but this is the path I have taken, now here is the list and here are the reasons why I have chosen them**

 **Vanelana Gremory: Rias' Mother if you guys didn't know who she is. Now as for why I chose her as a candidate it is because first she is a Bael and the reason Rais and Sirzechs have the power of Destruction in the first place but does not have the reserves to last in a long battle so while she is powerful she is not too OP to be game breaking too.**

 **Vanelana also plays the role of a teacher for Issei and could help him with her connections as the mother of Lucifer, while staying out of the spotlight. She also fulfils the role of a mother figure too not just for Issei but for Tamamo too. Let's face it Tamamo needs some motherly love.**

 **Unless requested Vanelana won't be part of Issei's harem and as she is married. If she is requested then I'll make her a widow with some complicated backstory to go with it.**

 **Now on to the next candidate.**

 **Riser Phenex: This guy if selected would be Issei's new best friend and a fellow harem king. I can think of lots of good interaction between the two and the Phenex peerage and works quite well for the overall story. The connection he has due to his family is nothing to scoff at, though I guess Tamamo won't like it too much that Riser would keep dragging Issei off to some of his adventures.**

 **Though if he is chosen than you can bet as hell that Rias is going to marry Riser and Issei would do his damn best to hook them up. Like I said they are going to be best friends and you know just how far Issei is willing to go for his friends and while Issei would be jealous of Riser he would be happy to see his friend happy.**

 **Ravel Phenex: Nothing much to say but she would be like Riser and Issei would have the task of fixing Riser's arrogant attitude as a favour from Ravel.**

 **Seekvaria Asgares: Might as well consider her an OC as I have hardly an information on her apart from her desire to create a new form of water magic.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Vali Lucifer, apprentice and adopted son of Azazel Governor of the Grigori and Leader of the Fallen Angels, the grandson of the original Lucifer and the current wielder of the 'Divine Dividing' Sacred Gear, one of the thirteen Longinus, was currently bored out of his mind.

"What a bunch of utter weaklings." Vali spat as he stood upon a pile of broken and groaning bodies of the Local Magical guild, The Iron Guards.

The Iron Guards had a reputation of being one of the strongest factions among the Magical Guilds and Associations, famed for their extremely tough barriers, close combat magical skills and all round defensive spells that allowed them to outlast their opponents, be they mundane or the supernatural variety.

Yet for all their fame defences and magic, Vali had been able to crush them easily even their leader in a short, brutal, one-sided fight. One that Vali found extremely unsatisfying as he had expected a lot more from them.

"Well that is another guild off my list now." Vali said as he crossed out the Iron Guards names from his list. "And now there's only two left."

He had being challenging the magical guilds and associations for the past two months and till now he had been unable to get a decent fight out of them.

"And to think I had to do all that paperwork for Azazel to get the permission for this." Vali grumbled as he made his way out of the guild hall, ignoring the groans of pain from the injured magicians. "This was nothing but a big waste of time."

Vali had thought that before he went out to challenge some of the more powerful beings in the supernatural realm, he should at least get some experience with some low level opponents before going for the big fish. But the whole thing turned out to be a total waste of time as Vali simply outclassed the magicians by a great deal even without Divine Dividing, and using that was just pure overkill for most of the magician groups.

"Well there is a magical market near the last two guilds headquarters. It just might make the trip worth it by buying something for that damn cat."

It had been some few years back that Vali had met the nekoshou and no matter what he did, the stray cat-devil would not just leave him alone.

"I wonder what I should buy." Vali wondered as he flew towards his next target, all thoughts of the fight leaving him as he tried to think about a suitable gift that would keep the damn cat away from him for some time.

* * *

Vali entered a small shop that he had heard had been newly open in the area, he had already done trashing the two guilds and was now browsing through the shops in search of a gift for Kuroka. So far nothing had caught his interest and Vali did not think that Kuroka would also be interested in the trinkets and books that most of the shops were offering.

The shop he was in was quite different from the rest as it held items that were quite different from what Vali had seen in the other shops. The items in the shop held quite the variety, from eastern charms, scrolls, books, weapons and armours in both eastern and western styles, some staffs and quite a lot of pill bottles and potions if the smell was anything to go by.

Vali had to admit that he was quite impressed with the variety of items in the shop and was for the first time was looking forward to browsing the items in the shop.

"Ah. My first customer, here I was thinking that I was going to go out of business without even selling my wares. And lo, behold, someone walks into my humble shop." A voice said from behind making Vali turn to face the owner of the voice.

The person speaking was grabbed in long black robes, a black waistcoat, red shirt, a black ribbon acting as a bowtie and a pair of black trousers. The person also wore a mask that Vali recognised as a Oni monster though Vali did spot the brow hair that the person failed to cover.

Somehow just looking at the person make Vali feel slightly irritated for no reason.

"Come to buy my wares have you?" the person asked, to which Vali simply nodded, trying to figure out who the person before him was. "Well since you are my first customer I am going to give you a 50% off card that you will be valid for the next 2 years and if you are buying for your girlfriend than feel free to take a single item from my shop though first you will have to give me a very good reason on why you think that item is perfect for your girl."

"It's nothing of that sort." Vali said shivering at the thought of having the sex-obsessed Nekoshou as his girlfriend. "And you're being overly generous. Won't that hurt your business?" Vali asked curious at the man's reason for giving him such privileges.

"If you were listening than you would know that you are my very first customer since I have opened this shop. Not in the first customer of this month or week but the very, very first customer that has come to this shop since its inauguration. Apart from you no one has come to my shop even to look at my goods and items." The person complained as he made his way to the counter.

"Well apart from my financial woes, what can I do to help you today?" the shopkeeper said politely.

Vali simply hummed in thought as he laid his eyes on the various items in the shop, he still had not been able to discern what the shop specialised mostly and the variety of items simply did not point out to a general magical shop.

"Before that I want to inquire if this is a general shop or do you specialise in some specific fields of items?" Vali asked laying down his thoughts.

"Well I mostly focus on stat-modifying items that specialise in buffs and debuffs and training potions and pills with some runic and seal weaponry, armours and items." The shopkeeper said as he went through the list of his items. "And oh I do make some great décor items too, with their own special effects like having calming auras or enhancing the growth of magical plants or simply helping one gain a better health overall with their minor healing effects."

Vali could only gape as he listen to the list of items the shopkeeper had in stock. They sounded quite useful, even if he knew that most of the items would be basically useless for him, they would be practically be a boon for the lower level mooks of the Grigori and the Khaos Brigade.

"What are buffs and debuffs?" Vali asked not getting those two particular terms, though he had an idea about what they were since the shopkeeper said stat-modifying items, but they really could not be what the shopkeeper was implying. Were they?

"And here I thought that you might understand better if I used some videogame terms, you have the look of someone who might be into those things even if it was for casual fun." The shopkeeper commented.

"Buffs and debuffs are simply broad terms that refer to skills and abilities that increase or decrease a person's abilities and stats like speed, strength, endurance, defence, durability, etc."

"Well that sound quite impressive but do they really do that?" Vali asked still sceptical about the whole thing, after all only sacred gears and powerful divine items had been recorded to have such abilities.

"While I admit that your sceptesism is understandable. I would also ask you to give me the benefit of doubt in this case as I have a policy of giving honest, albeit bias depiction of the abilities of my items." The shopkeeper said sounding a bit crossed.

"OK, OK, first customer remember." Vali said as he tried to placate him, he really did not want to be kicked out of the one shop that had managed to catch his interest. He really did not want to search the whole town for a similar shop like this again. "But you must admit that your claims do sound outlandish."

"Yes and for that a simply demonstration would suffice to help clear any doubts. I assume that having you test my items would be the best way to do so, don't you think." The shopkeeper asked but Vali knew that it was a statement and his little revenge for doubting his honest.

Vali simply shrugged uncaring of what the shopkeeper had planned for him as he doubted that there was anything that he could do to harm him.

"Well why don't we try this item first shall we." The shopkeeper said as he handed him a pair of gloves with metal plates added to them for protection and a strange runic array and seals etched on them, yet they were blended in such a way that the end result seemed like a coiling dragon. "Why don't you try activating them? Just push a bit of magic in them and they should work their charm."

Vali following the shopkeeper's words pushed a bit of magic into the gloves and activated them. The seals and runes on the gloves lit up in response, and made Vali's hands go numb for a moment.

After the numbness subsided Vali felt the a strange energy enter his hand and arms up to his forearms and he felt the energy slowly filling in some unseen gaps in them, reinforcing them in a bizarre manner as he felt his arm become more stronger and durable with each passing moment.

Vali threw some few experimental punches and he felt his arms responding just a bit faster than usual and even creating a visible air stream as they sailed by.

Vali could only look at the gloves in wonder as they did their magic. He noticed that the gloves did not even drain his magic apart from the tiny amount he used to activate them. well tiny for him anyway.

"Convinced I suppose." The shopkeeper said he rearranged some of the items that Vali manage to topple with his 'light punches'.

"That I am. So, how much for these gloves?" Vali asked not able to contain his excitement over the prospect of the owning the gloves, money was not much of an issue for him as he had made quite a lot in hunting down strays and saving up from the monthly allowances that Azazel gave him.

"And here I was thinking you would be interested in more powerful versions of the gloves and not the low quality glove that you are wearing now." the shopkeeper said, no doubt smirking behind the mask he was wearing. "The glove can only enhance that much while the other gloves have higher enhancing capabilities albeit with a higher mana cost to activate them, but with your reserves that should not be a problem and the gloves are parts of a series of sets of armours which I might add give a greater boost when worn together due to the resonance created by the seals and runes." The shopkeeper continued.

"Are you thus sure that you want to by that low grade item?" the shopkeeper asked innocently, even though he knew what his answer was going to be.

"Well show me this set then." Vali said, eager to try out the armour set.

"I'm glad you asked." the shopkeeper said in a low voice, making Vali shiver a bit. At that moment Vali felt like he had just met the devil himself.

'No wonder Azazel complains about greedy shopkeepers and merchants. They are just as bad as Devils themselves.' Vali thought even as he followed the shopkeeper deeper into the store.

For once he felt like things were taking a turn for him.

* * *

"…and that brings up the total to 48.2 million Dollars. You sure are rich aren't you?" the shopkeeper, whose name Vali found out was Caster. It was a code name that was clear but Vali did not pry into the reasons behind it as he knew the value of keeping one's name a secret.

"It's not that I am rich, but it's the fact that your items are just damn expensive." Vali retorted, he had simply bought a few items as it was already putting a considerable dent into his savings.

"I'll have you know that they have been properly appraised and have been their values set correctly. Don't blame me, if you are the one who is shopping like a woman on a 80% Sale. I have even given you the 50% discount to boot too." the shopkeeper replied, making Vali blink about the discount. He had honestly forgotten about that.

"Well, finally let me give you a bill for the items so that you don't complain later on." Caster said as he began to make a bill for the items.

"One full platinum grade enhancing armour set, 30 bottles of stamina restoring pill bottles…I just hope you are not going on a sex marathon, if so do have the courtesy give share it with your girlfriend too." Caster said as he paused making the bill.

Vali naturally denied it saying that it was for training but caster seemed inconvinced as he simply ignored Vali and continue making the bill.

"…20 healing potions, 30 healing slaves, 40 high grade healing pills, 20 body strengthening training pills, and I will remind you again on using them in moderation, a set of jade earrings with barrier charms and a set of bracelets with barrier charms and full body reinforcement charms and finally a Sun-drop Purification pill, once again do heed my warning on the usage of the pill and its effect." Caster said as he completed the list.

"And here you are wondering why your bill is high." Caster stated. Vali had the decency to blush in embarrassment at the statement, looking at the list Vali had to admit that he did went a bit overboard with his shopping spree.

"Well for good measure I am tossing in 10 minor cultivation pills and 5 meridian clearing pills to help you with whatever hellish training you are going to put yourself in. I once again remind you that you should follow the instructions that I have given you today about the pills and potions and if you forget I have even taken the courtesy to write them down and put them in their pill and bottle cases." Caster said as he put all the items on the counter. "Though I have to ask, how exactly do you plan on carrying all of them back?"

Caster's question made Vali's mind go blank as he had not really thought about how he was going to carry all this back to base. He could teleport back and forth from here to the Grigori base he was currently using but that just seem like too much work and he was in no way going to give Caster the address to the base. It was a secret base for a reason.

"Well from the look on your face I can guess that you didn't think this through. Never mind I was already going to give you another item for you as your first customer privilege." Caster said as he went back inside and brought a small case.

Opening the case caster showed him a pair of simple platinum rings, with a draconic design and similar markings etched on them.

"I am straight thank you very much." Vali replied looking blankly at the two rings.

"Wait what?" Caster said confused at his statement, then after a few moments he realised what Vali was hinting at. "NOOO. I am not purposing you, you damn bishonen bastard. I rather sooner marry a f—a girl than purpose to you." Caster said, "I am going to be a harem king and your kind is not in the list."

"Ignoring whatever you just sprouted, what do these rings do exactly?" Vali asked, trying to convince himself that the one person he had come to respect in the last few hours was not a pervert like the many important people in his life. Why was he always surrounded by their kind?

Caster immediately began explaining the functions of the rings "These rings are storage rings, with the ability to store items in a special pocket dimension, keeping the items in them safe from deterioration and decay. The capacity is almost limitless as I was unable to find their limit for now. Do inform me about it if you do find its limits." Caster requested as he continued with his explanation, "the rings also have a barrier charm on them and are charmed to always return to its owner after a period of 5 minutes, meaning they cannot be lost or stolen. The rings can also be used to communicate with the each other using a telepathic form of communication and can also be used to teleport to the location of the other pair too. Quite the gift for a loving couple." Caster commented at the end.

Vali frowned a bit but simply took one of the rings and wore it on his ring finger. He then activating the ring stored all the items inside it, though he did put the Sun-drop Purification pill inside the other one.

"You know, I have to wonder just you are giving me this rings free of cost. They are quite powerful in terms of utility and seemed to be quite priceless too." Vali asked, suspicious of Caster's intentions, for a lowly shopkeeper he had been overly generous towards him.

"Like you said, the rings are Priceless, with each ring valuing in billions." Cater admitted "But the fact is that the rings are so damn expensive that it would take me a long time to sell even one of them making them almost useless as they work better in pairs. Not to mention I had wanted to intend to craft them for personal use but I was unsatisfied with the design and final finish so I crafted a better pair made later on making the one in your hand obsolete for me. So it's no big loss for me, not to mention that I do find joy in helping a man woo his girlfriend." caster said as he explained his reasons for giving the rings.

"For the last time that damn woman is not my girlfriend." Vali sighed, he had long given up on convincing the matchmaking shopkeeper.

"Whatever you say, Vali, whatever you say." Caster said chuckling at his response, no doubt convince about his relationship with the damn cat.

Seeing that his work was done Vali exited the shop bidding Caster goodbye and paying for his purchase. It had been one of the strangest shopping spree that Vali had participated and he doubted that it was going to be his last.

* * *

Seeing Vali exit his shop, Caster fell on a nearby sofa, thoroughly tired and spent by the whole experience. He removed his mask and put it in a table beside him, revealing the face of a sixteen year of Issei Hyoudou.

"Ara, Hyoudou-sama I did not think that you would give away the rings and the Sun-drop Purification pill to that boy so easily. Not when you were so irritated by the boy's attitude towards his girlfriend." Tamamo said she materialised near her master, and began to slowly massage his shoulders to relieve his fatigue.

"Well, the rings were quite easy to give away since I have better ones at my disposal and as for the pill, well you did say that unless they had your blessing the pill's effect you only be a meagre 10.2%, which was why I sold it at such a low price." Issei replied relaxing under Tamamo's ministrations. "Even though I think that a bishonen bastard like him should be grateful for having such a loving girlfriend."

"True and it was quite a good deal for our first sale, too." Tamamo said conceding to her master's point. "Still I must say that I was quite surprised myself, when you started showing some really powerful enchanted items to the boy. I still can't believe you have come so far from being a novice magician that could not cast spell without them blowing up."

"And it is all because of you and Vanelana. Without the two of you I would still be struggling in a lot of places." Issei said with genuine gratitude in his voice.

"I just wish that Vanelana shared the same feelings as you do master, she is still cold as the day you first summoned her." Tamamo said, not pleased with the attitude the Devil-woman had towards her master.

"Tamamo" Issei sighed, knowing very well that the incarnation of Amaterasu did not see eye to eye with his Devil familiar, "she is getting a bit better now, so give her some more time please." Issei requested, not wanting to let Tamamo and Vanelana fight again. Last time they did, the two women tore apart an entire city. It was a good thing that the city in question was a fake copy in an alternate dimension.

"Hai, hai, though my main concern is now is that you are going to focus on her more, now that she is coming out of her ice queen persona. I really do not want to miss out on our cuddling time" Tamamo said as she hugged Issei from behind.

Issei tried to ignore the feeling of the tamamo's literally heavenly pairs pressing his back, though without great success, "Well don't worry on that front, after all how can I ignore my lovely wife." Issei said, as he returned her hug.

Tamamo had in the past year managed to get him to admit that and Issei did not regret doing so too, since Tamamo had agreed to help him with his harem plan as it was something that she was a familiar with, being the emperor's consort and all.

"And I expect you to keep your promise, dear husband of mine." Tamamo said leaning in and giving Issei a chaste kiss. "For now let's inform Vanelana on the success of the store shall we."

And with that the duo closed the shop for the day and went home, to meet up with Vanelana and to spend the evening together.

* * *

 **AN: Well I hope this chapter was satisfactory to you all, and yes this is a one year time-skip too, as I did not want to write several chapters involving only training for a one year time period and wanted to get into the juicy part of my story. Though I do promise to show what Issei has learned over the year.**

 **And yes Vanelana has been chosen as she literally overtook Ravel with last minute votes, also she is in the Harem too as requested, and I have a really good reason to keep her in too.**

 **As for Vali well he is going to be a close secondary main character for this fic, and yes I am setting him up with Kuroka. His plotline is going to be really good if I am able to pull it off.**

 **As for Issei's Caster persona, well that is going to be his go to disguise for supernatural hijinks while he also pretends to be a high school student too. I have yet to come across such DxD fics when it should be so much fun to write, it also helps add a layer of mystery and suspense to the story.**

 **As for the whole pills deal, I blame all the Wuxia and Xianxia stories I have been reading the past few weeks. I think I can blend those elements well in this fic.**

 **Anyways this is all for now, Review and give me your thoughts on the chapter, this is Tale Master Signing out.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 Customers and Broken items**

"So Vali, are you purposing me?" Kuroka said as she looked at the ring that Vali tossed at her. "I mean, I know that I have been trying to seduce you and all…but even this is just too fast for me." Her face was scarlet red, her heart was beating faster and faster the more she thought about what the white haired boy actions meant. He had given her a ring, even if he had simply tossed it at her and said that it was for her, a strange way to purpose but that was just like him.

And what could it be but a proposal, asking her hand in marriage. After all no one would simply gift such an expensive looking ring just like that, and he was even wearing an identical one too. The rings even bore draconian designs, which was so in line with Vali's line of thoughts.

So yes, Kuroka knew that Vali was purposing to her even if it was in his own way.

Though it was not the romantic way Kuroka was expecting, it still was cute and charming in its own way, completely suiting the attitude of the boy before her.

"I mean…I know that I keep seducing you and keep asking you to have my babies but this…this is just too early. I mean we are just 16 years old…teenagers! Not adults. Though I guess old customs and traditions do make us legal but this is just too fast…" Kuroka said, her mind blanking as she started babbling away, holding the ring like it was the most precious thing in the world. She could even hear the wedding bells ring in the distance.

"Kuroka…" Vali sighed, trying to get a word in clear up her misunderstanding.

"I mean…Yes Vali, YES I will be happy to become your bride." Kuroka said as she hugged Vali stopping him in his tracks.

They stood like that for some few minutes neither of them unsure of what to say. For Kuroka it was the happiest day of her life as the boy she had been chasing after had returned her feelings and was even bold enough to directly purpose to her. As for Vali, he was simply stunned at Kuroka's proclamation and did not whether he should try to clear up the misunderstanding or not.

Making up his mind Vali decided that he should clear up the misunderstanding before things get messy and Kuroka's feelings get hurt. He had seen enough soap operas to know that he should just nip such problems in the bud before they get out of control later on.

"Um Kuroka…well how do I put this." Vali began trying to string his words together so that he does not become victim of Kuroka's rage, once he explains the situation. 'Oh screw this.' Vali thought as he grabbed Kuroka's shoulders and looked directly into her eyes.

"OK, Kuroka calm down and listen to me. I am not purposing you by giving this ring to you. The ring is simply something that I manage to get for free due to earning a special privilege and thus in turn gave me the rings. Since I do not need two rings, I simply decided to give it to you, NOTHING MORE. Got that." Vali said, stating clearly why he was giving her the ring, it was simply a gift with no romantic intentions attached to it.

Kuroka did not say anything for some time after she heard Vali's reply but Vali felt a sense of dread bubble up inside him with each passing moment and felt sweat dripping down his neck.

{You done Goof, Vali} Albion chimed in, shaking his head at the misfortune that was going to befall his bearer.

Vali in the next few moments knew pain.

##########################

"…and in that moment you KNEW Pain." Azazel summed up Vali's reason for coming back looking like a really abused punching bag, with multiple broken bones and injuries in places better left unmentioned. Though he did note that some of the bite marks and scratch marks were, ahem, Kinky, if one ignored the swelling face of Vali.

"Yes" Vali uttered nursing his swelling face with an ice-pack, Kuroka really did a number on him using her senjutsu to negate his Divine Dividing and attack him with those damn bubbles.

"And you still gave her the ring, the earrings and the bracelets." Azazel said repeating Vali's words on how even after getting beaten up he gave Kuroka the earrings and the bracelets.

"Uh-huh." Vali nodded.

"Are you sure you aren't in love with her and were purposing to her?" Azazel asked in confusion, "Because that sounds like top-grade courting methods no matter the age."

"No and hell no. Who in the world would fall in love with that perverted, always in heat, devil of a woman?!" Vali shouted even as his body screamed in protest.

"You apparently." Azazel retorted, smirking at how Vali seemed to wanted to protest but his body was in no condition to do so. It was not every day one got to see Vali in such a state with his insane endurance, stamina and recovery speed and Azazel shuddered at the thought of angering a woman who could do that to his adopted son.

'She really is a minx and perverted alright. If the marks are anything to go by.' Azazel thought, seeing how Vali was unable to sit properly due to his abused bum, though albeit leaving a single part untouched. 'Though it is quite sad that the woman did not take his virginity, that might have loosened him up a bit.'

"Still I must say that the ring you have is unlike anything I have ever seen." Azazel said as he examined the ring in question, the source of Vali's current state. It was unlike any magical ring Azazel had come across and created in his life. The ring could not only store items in a pocket dimension, a feature which made it almost priceless in scope, but also create barriers to protect its user but could also communicate and teleport the user to its other pair. In terms of utility, Azazel would rank the ring almost a god like item and if its storage capacity was truly infinite, than there was no doubt this was a God-level item. Its utility was just too great to call it a mere magical ring.

'I can even say without a doubt that only a few Legendary artefacts could match this ring barred artefacts of Divine Nature and even then it would be a tough contest.' Azazel confessed, wondering just what kind of person could make not one but a pair of such ring.

"It is decided once you are healed Vali, you are taking me to meet the shop of this mysterious Caster." Azazel said, making Vali perk an eyebrow at his sudden interest in the mysterious shopkeeper. Vali knew that as a powerful Archangel and one of the pioneers of Weapons and Magical artefacts, Azazel did not take much interest in the tinckets that magicians normally created these days, seeing how he had seen better or created better in his youth and what not.

So for Azazel to take an interest in the rings was something that Vali had not been expecting. Sure it had caught his fancy and he did saw them as impressive but for the Governor of Grigori to take an interest in them, spoke volumes of how damn impressive they might be.

'Looks like I was quite lucky to find that shop.' Vali thought as he nodded in affirmative to his foster father's words. He saw that he had something going on in his mind like he always did when he had stroke of inspiration for his new inventions, so he was just going to lie down and pray that it did not end up like that gender-changing gun incident again. He still could not get the image of the silver haired woman that Azazel had turned into, it was so similar to his mother that he began to have doubts about his origins that day.

'And who could have thought that Kokabiel would turn into a shy spectacle wearing blue haired bookworm. That was really strange.'

Leaving the memories of those weird days aside, Vali let himself drift into a comforting sleep with his dreams filled with sexy black cats and a silver hair woman with a motherly aura.

##########################

"So far apart from Vali, we still have not gotten any customers yet. I know our shop is supposed to be secretive and exclusive due to the nature of our items but this is simply taking it too far." Issei said as he waited for the bell to ring and a customer to greet. "At this rate I am going to spend my entire summer break simply loitering around this shop, waiting for a customer to enter, while those two bastards that I call friends are ogling at the beauties at the beach and enjoying themselves under the rays of the sun and cool breeze of the ocean."

Issei complained at the unfairness of his situation.

It was not supposed to be this way; Issei manning his shop should have attracted all sorts of supernatural creatures and supernatural beauties, from Succubus to Lamias, from dere-dere Pixies to the stoic tsundere ojou-sama Elves. His shop was supposed to be filled with them where he could admire their beauty and get to meet the interesting creatures that resided in the supernatural realm.

He was in no way supposed to become the owner of a mysterious shop that people avoided due to its mysterious nature. Hell he even decorated the place to give it a vibrant life like feel and not the shady look that most people associate with the occult.

"Well I don't know about the cool breeze of the ocean" Tamamo said as she wrapped her arms around his neck, "but if it is the sun you want to enjoy, you have one right here." She whispered, her eyes inviting him to take her right there and Issei resisted the urge to do so. Sure granted they had already done the deed, though purely for the sake of prana exchange, and Issei was no stranger to her advances now but Issei did not want others to walk in on them, during the act. It was a private affair and he was going to keep it private, damn it!

"Maybe I will enjoy the sun later but not now." Issei reluctantly said, prying his servant off him. Their relationship had grown leaps and bounds over the past year and Issei still could truthfully claim that he was still falling in love with the Fox-priestess but that did not mean that he still had not given up on his dream to create a Harem and become a harem king.

Oddly enough Tamamo was okay with his dream, stating that it was not new for her as she was the consort of the Emperor in her life. But she did refuse to absolutely give up on being the Mother of his First Child, which Issei had no qualms with that condition. In fact even Issei wanted his first child to come from Tamamo. It was strange how just one year and a wife could change, how one thinks about life.

Tamamo sensing his thoughts did not press the issue for now knowing that they could later have their quite time together.

"You know I am quite surprised you managed to get into Kuoh Academy without any help from Vanelana." Tamamo said changing the topic.

"What surprises me the most is how she was unable to enrol you to Kuoh." Issei remarked, as he thought about their school-life.

"Well she does not like me much and she did give a wonderful reason on how I would scare away the girls that you would be courting in that academy." Tamamo wistfully said knowing that Vanelana had not enrolled her in the academy for the simple fact that she wanted to keep Issei and her separate from each other and do her magic on her dear Master.

That Devil-woman had somehow started to show a caring side to Issei but that was also accompanied by her attempts to seduce her way out of the familiar contract. The love of a Devil sure was heavenly but it also guaranteed an afterlife in Hell.

"I still can't believe you gave me the permission to do that, now I just wonder if the girls there would meet up to your standards or not." Issei said recalling their small arrangement. Issei was free to pursue any girl he wants for his Harem but the girl in question had to pass Tamamo's own tests. It was a way to make sure that no gold digging girl could sink her teeth into Issei.

So what if the tests were hard and Tamamo had nigh impossible standards, that just meant the girls did not deserve her husband and had to try harder to pass the tests. In the meantime Issei would be hers and hers alone, till someone passes her tests.

'If they ever do that is.' Tamamo giggled as she thought about their little arrangement.

"Something funny?" Issei asked unaware of Tamamo's thoughts.

"Yes. I was wondering just how many times you would be beaten black and blue by the Kendo Club in the new school." Tamamo said giggling at the thought.

"Hey." Issei cried out as his cheeks turned red remembering the number of times he was beaten with those wooden sticks of pain. "It was just a few times and what makes you think that it would be the Kendo Club who beats me?" Issei asked.

"If by few, you mean almost every day sure." Tamamo said flicking his nose. "And well knowing you it will be the Kendo Club, after all you do seem to have a taste for the more traditional yet tomboy girls who can fight." Tamamo said, enjoying the glowing red face of her husband.

But before Issei could reply, the bell rang indicating someone had entered the shop.

Hearing the bell Issei put on his mask and cape, while Tamamo went back inside to change into her 'working clothes' that she had been working on.

Going to the front desk Issei let out a bellowing greeting playing the persona that he had chosen to wield as the owner of this shop, a crazy eccentric magician.

"Welcome to my humble shop, what can I do for you today?" Issei greeted his customer, an ebon haired spectacled beauty, in a booming voice, oh how he love magic and its variety of applications. For some reason upon seeing the girl an image of strict stoic disciplinarian came into his mind.

"Unless you have an intelligence Device there is nothing of interest that I am willing to buy for now." the girl replied leaving Issei a bit dumbfounded at why the hell was the girl referencing Nanoha all of a sudden.

Inwardly Issei had to admit that an Intelligence Device like Raising Heart would be a godsend to math based magicians, like him.

"…" Issei simply stared at her blackly, at the strange reply. "But if you are not here to buy then…" the why was left unsaid.

"Can you just allow me to hide her for some time? I'll pay you 10,000 for every hour, I stay here." The girl said, putting a stack of money on the table which Issei analyse as perfect 10,000$ bundles.

"While I have no problem with such arrangements, I will remind you that this is a shop not a hotel." Issei said seeing no downside to this arrangement, there was some seats and sofa free in the back and the girl was quite cute and if he dare say a bit sexy too, if one were into the stern disciplinarian types, so he was going to allow the girl to rest for now.

He was still going to urge her to browse some of his wares and see if he can sell something to her, for while he would be profiting from the girl's stay here and enjoy a good view for a while, He was better off impressing her with his wares and make her a repeat customer and charm her with his personality.

Issei observed the girl leaning back in one of the sofa, looking at her carefully she seemed to have been running from someone but her undamaged clothes indicated that it was more of a friend than an enemy of some sort.

The girl had sheen of sweat on her forehead and her breathing was quite normal but Issei did spot signs of her being out of breath but was now returning to normal. Dressed in a black miniskirt and a white sleeveless shirt, the girl was quite remarkably beautiful and Issei was determined to make this beautiful girl his repeat customer.

'Hmm…she looks like the intelligent type, so some books and items with multipurpose or some useful yet unique abilities might catch her fancy.' Issei thought as he went over what kind of items might interest the girl. 'Good thing I have an abundance of such items, in my inventory.' Issei thought mentally selecting the items that might catch the girl's interest. It was too bad that the girl was not his first customer, since he would have loved to give her all sorts of discounts.

'Damn Bishonen bastard, creating obstacles for me even when he is not here.' Issei cursed the damn slivered haired bishonen who was his first customer and thus had received all the benefits of being his 'First'.

At that moment Issei shudder feeling a sudden chill go down his spine, as if to indicate that there was something wrong but he could not find out what.

Shrugging away the cold chill, Issei went over his plans to impress the black haired beauty, determine to get her to become a customer of his.

'It is time to impress a customer.'

#############################

Sona Sitri, heir to the Sitri household, one of the 72 pillars of the underworld was thoroughly confused at why the hell had she not heard of this mysterious shop before.

Granted the shopkeeper said he had opened it just a month ago but the items and products he was selling should have put this shop on the spotlight in just a matter of days. The items were just too ridiculously good and cheap for anyone with a brain to pass over and ignore. And yet the shopkeeper was saying that she was his second customer, which she found really hard to believe.

Though if his words were true Sona really lucked out in coming to this shop when all she wanted to do was escape the grasps of her sister who in the guise of diplomatic mission had dragged her on to a shopping spree.

Now Sona did not mind that her elder sister wanted to spend time with her. In fact she was quite giddy at the prospect, the diplomatic mission aside, Sona had been enjoying the trip so far but well her sister antics did leave her a stuttering embarrassed wreck after she had somehow gotten her to cosplay with her in a magical girl outfits. Yeah, Sona had no intention of trying out some of the more risqué outfits and thus she ran and ran till she entered this shop.

Fuelled with adrenaline and embarrassment Sona had chosen this empty shop to catch her breath and cool down for some time. The GPS on her phone would no doubt lead her sister to this place but Sona knew that her sister would give her some space for now and come looking for her after an hour or two, so there was not much to worry about.

Sona had expected the shopkeeper to do what he was doing earlier and leave her alone but well he seemed to want to get her to do business with him, even after the deal she had hashed out, though considering his words about his lack of customers the shopkeeper might just be desperate to sell his goods.

Which was why, for the past half an hour Sona had been looking at the catalogue the shopkeeper had given her and inspecting some of the items that she found interesting, which Sona was ashamed to admit was quite a lot.

At first Sona had thought that she would just buy a few items in pity for the man after hearing about his situation, but after seeing the catalogue Sona was wondering if she could just buy the whole shop and make a contract with the man himself. The items were just insane.

"…and that Ms Sitri is the basic functions of the bracelet." The shopkeeper, Caster said as he finished describing the functions of the bronze bracelet that Sona had in her hand.

The bracelet in question had a simple design with a blue crystal embedded in it had the ability to cast minor water spells and create a small barrier to protect the user from attacks, it also seemed to have the ability to grant a person increased resistance to fire and heat. All in all it was quite useful and had quite a lot of utility, which seemed to be Caster's forte.

Putting down the bracelet Sona went over the list of items listed in the catalogue and the total amount of the items. Sona winced thinking about the cost of the items which would take quite a large chunk of her savings, it would take her quite a lot of time before she was able save up much again and Sona wanted to currently take advantage of the extremely low cost of the items, who knows how expensive they would later become when word gets out.

She could ask her sister and family for extra funds but she did not want to ask them so soon after she promised herself to not rely on them during her stay in the human world.

After thinking about it Sona decided that her pride was not worth the potential profits and benefits that her family would get by doing business with this mysterious magician.

"And that is the last of the basic starter items. If you want I can give you the Novice and Disciple Level Items catalogues which are much better than the basic starter items and while they are more expensive, I can assure you that they are worth their price." Caster said as he took out two more catalogues from his robes.

Sona just sat there stunned into silence as she wordlessly too the catalogues, staring at their covers like they were some sort of forbidden texts that she should never open lest they ensnare her into the abyss.

The basic catalogue, and was that not a shocker, had already enticed her greed to the extreme and if the items in the catalogues were just as good as the basic, if not better by their descriptions, than Sona was sure her greed would get the better of her.

"Would you kindly look at the catalogues and give me your opinions on them, Little Miss? I want to know if they are up to your standards or not." Caster said, his tone sounding genuinely curious yet Sona could not help but feel that he had worded his question in such a way that she had no choice but to read the catalogues and be entice by the items listed in them.

'This man played me like a fool.' Sona thought a bit angry at the man's conniving tactics yet he dared to look innocent before her. She had really fallen for the desperate shopkeeper act that he had going.

But Sona even knowing how she was tricked and was now playing directly into the shopkeeper's hands could not help but go through his 'request' and began to go through the catalogues, like a moth to flames. The light was just too damn mesmerising not to be attracted to, no matter how dangerous it was.

So even knowing how her greed would get the better of her Sona went through the catalogues, mentally making a list of items that caught her attention. Sona knew by then she could not buy these items on her own and would have to ask her parents and sister on this front which was a great blow to her pride.

But Sona knew that they were worth it.

"What are the best items that you have in your store? It would be better to show me those items than these trinkets." Oh how it hurt to call hem trinkets as they were items that were more than that but damn it if Sona could not get a word in against the shopkeeper who was making a fool out of her.

"I knew that you had high standards but calling the items trinkets. That hurts you know." Caster said with a fake tone of sadness, then pointing at his heart he said, "That hurts right here."

"Still I guess I should bring out the great items in my inventory. They are not much as I am still learning to create better ones but I am sure that they would be up to your standards."

Sona knew that the man was just acting but did he have to be so damn patronising. She really wanted to grit her teeth and unleash a barrage of spells on him but she was not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had gotten her.

"Right this way, Little Miss." Caster said as he led her into the back of his shop, which looked like a warehouse and a museum massed into one.

"This is bigger on the inside." Sona could not but voice out her thoughts as she saw the sight of the large warehouse, the ceiling going more than several stories tall and even the bottom of the warehouse was several floors down.

"Ah…the wonders of magic, it never fails to amaze me of the wonderful things it can do." Caster said and motioned Sona to follow him, "It still amazes me just how a simple spells come together and create something so grand in design. It is truly miraculous." Caster exclaimed and Sona could hear the awe and reverence in his voice, it was like seeing a child in a candy store and tasting his first cotton candy.

Sona wanted to question Caster on the spells he used to enlarge the room and create such a large and the detailed working behind it but she knew that it was quite rude to ask Magicians about the workings of their spells unless one knew the magician well and were truly close to them, which Sona was not seeing as this was their first meeting. But her curios inquisitive mind was shouting at her to pry the secrets of the spells of the strange shopkeeper, it was really driving her insane, well not really but close enough to make her feel really uncomfortable.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and caster led her to the bottom floor at the centre of which were various glass cases displaying various items. Mentally Sona noted that they were arranged in a perfect circle with various cases forming layers of circles, 'He must have arranged them by their quality and value.' Sona noted, as she saw that the items near the centre seemed to have a much higher quality than the other items near the edge of the arrangement.

Her guess was correct as Caster led her to the centre of the floor and told her about the peculiar arrangement and how he kept the most valuable and powerful items at the centre.

It seemed a bit foolish as to keep the most valuable items at the centre of a floor seemingly devoid of any defences apart from the glass cases but Sona knew that Magicians were never that simple and she knew that Caster would surely have some nasty surprises for thieves that come to steal his items.

"Now what we have here are my current masterpieces of items, the most powerful items that I have created in my career as a magician. The items are a testament of my current skills and ones that I am truly proud of." Caster said spreading his arms and boasting about his skills as crafter as he went on to list the abilities of the items.

"The first items are a pair of magical bands whose function is to serve as training items more than anything. The bands helps regulate the flow of energies in one's body and help circulate them evenly and slowly making the energies denser and denser as time pass by and using the energies to enhance the body of the wearer which overtime would slowly grow stronger the more one is used to the flow of energy.

It is a great supplement to any type of physical and mystical training and can easily increase their effectiveness sevenfold. The best part is that the bands have the ability to adapt to the bearers energy and grow alongside the user, growing stronger as the bearer becomes more powerful."

As Caster finished his speech, Sona found herself staring at the bands in amazement. She really had no words to say as she just looked dumbfounded at the pair of bands.

At first glance looked quite ordinary, just simple silver metallic colour with no ornate designs, yet looking at them carefully Sona could see that there were several runes etch on the inner side of the bands that kept flashing in between like a pulse.

The bands had one single feature but that feature was more than enough for Sona to regard these bands as treasures. These bands were truly a godsend to all those who trained in the mystical arts and if what Caster said was true than it could easily make a lowly low class devil into a magical powerhouse in a short time. It was truly a godlike item.

"I do have to warn you though that simply wearing the bands won't make one into a magical powerhouse in a few months, the bands are only effective as the user and the training the employ. The better the training the more effective the bands will be in regulating the internal energies of the body. Simply wearing the bands and not training would yield no benefits apart from felling more active and fresh." Caster warned.

Sona had to admit that made sense, the more one trained their magic the more one could regulate and control them which the bands simply enhanced, and thus not training would simply result in the bands working in a less than optimal manner.

"Speaking from experience?" Sona asked the strange shopkeeper, he must still be wearing one of the bands.

"Oh yes and you would not believe the amount of work I had to put into making these things works the way I wanted too. It took me three months, three whole months to optimise them to their current state." Caster ranted sounding quite cross with the bands. "These little buggers were the hardest to work with but in the end they bowed before my talent and skills. Take that you little rascals." Caster shouted and let loose and evil laugh, it had been a truly trying affair to him working on the bands.

While Caster kept laughing Sona's mind blank at the bit about Caster taking only three months to complete working on a pair of bands which would no doubt create an upheaval worthy of the thirteen Longinus themselves.

'Three months, three months! Just how skilled is this guy.' Sona wondered, suspecting that she was dealing with a godly figure instead of a simple magician. After all a magician of such skill should have been famous regardless of how secretive he was, he was just too damn good to be left unnoticed for so long.

'But all I am feeling is that he really is a human.' Sona thought, as she examined Caster intently. Her senses were telling her that he was a human and while the robes and clothes he wore were magical and had some disguise properties they were not too powerful and were just simple illusions and alterations spells to hide his face. There was nothing divine or demonic about him at all.

Yet Sona could not help but feel that she was dealing with someone of divine nature, as the skills Caster displayed in item crafting were simply too good for words.

The situation was one that Sona was either dealing with a Divine being or she had just met a really good skilled unknown magician. Either way Sona knew she had to be a bit more careful in her dealing with Caster, if he was a divine being Sona could potentially forge some connections with him and if he was an unknown magician, then she had to either make him part of her peerage or form a pact with him.

As plans formed in her mind of how to capture the interest of the strange magician, Sona silently stood by and listened and marvelled at the creation of the skilled artificer.

"This is the Ring of Multiple-Folds." Caster said as he pointed to a small jade ring, the ring was made of jade shaped in the form of an eastern dragon, biting a blood red ruby.

"The ring's function is simple it has the capability of boosting the physical capabilities of a person several fold by casting a full body physical enhancement spell. The boost it provides comes in three types that are 2X, 5X and 10X. The boosts can be used multiple times with an interval of 30 seconds in each boost with each boost being stackable over one another. In short this ring is capable of making a Hercules out of even a dead beat student."

Sona had to try hard not to gape at the ring with her jaws wide open. The ring in front of her was simply like a discount Booster Gear, one of the thirteen Longinus created by the Biblical God. While she wanted to jump in joy at her luck for finding such an item, she knew that it was just too good to be true. So she asked, "The downsides?"

Sona for some reason felt that Caster was smiling behind that mask of his, as he let loose a chuckle and said.

"The downside is that it is a damn energy hog of a ring, requiring quite a lot of power to cast and sustain the enhancements. The more layers of enhancements one cast, the higher the upkeep becomes and thus only the truly powerful mystical powerhouses can use the ring in the long run with lowly magicians may be able to use two to three boosts before the upkeep starts to drain them at a very fast rate.

The ring also cannot increase the magical capabilities of the user like increase magical reserves and what not, which was something I was aiming for to create a self-sustaining boost cycle but well as you can see I failed. But to cover up the flaws I added several barriers enchantments and elemental shields to provide some protection from magical attacks. Though rest assured one day I will solve this little problem." Caster said as he listed out the flaws of the ring.

'He really has some very high goals' Sona thought as she listen to how Caster had attempted to create a self-staining boost cycle by trying to create a spell that increased the magical reserves of the caster.

Sona knew that what Caster was attempting was violating quite a lot of well know laws of science and magic but he was attempting it all the same. She was really starting to believe that she was dealing with a divine being instead of a human with how insane his goals and targets were.

"Well on to the next and final item is the 'Amulet of Destruction'. It is a bit of a pretentious name but I assure you that the amulet is worthy of its title." Caster said as he went of the case that house the said amulet.

The amulet was beautiful one, crafted in the likeness of old noble crests it held the shape of a tri-shield made of a silvery-metal with a beautiful white outer edge that Sona would have mistaken for paint or another substance were it not for the shine it gave out.

'Mithril' her mind supplied as she recognised the metal that was used to make the amulet. The fact that she was seeing an item forge using the mystical metal should have elicited some sort of excitement from her but strangely Sona felt that it was something that was to be expected from the man before her.

Looking at the amulet carefully Sona found that the designs were more flower like in nature, with white and red roses being etched at the centre surrounding a pitch black circle with red outlines that looked like an orb. The orb made the amulet look evil and cruel, with a certain medieval charm to it which made it more beautiful in her eyes. It had quite the artistic charm to it.

To finish it all off the amulet was help by a chain made of Mithril giving it a pleasant finish.

Sona found herself entrance by the amulet, admiring its beauty even as she listen to Caster who was explaining the abilities of the amulet.

"This amulet's ability is more passive in nature it simply imbues the user of the amulet with a single concept, the concept of destruction, nothing more, nothing less." Caster stated, and became silent like his lone statement said it all.

Sona for her part was unable to fully grasp what Caster was saying. 'Imbuing the concept of destruction upon a person? What does that even mean? What does it even do to the user?'

"Explain." Sona asked wanting to know more about the capabilities of the amulet.

Caster laughed at her request somehow finding it a bit funny but even so he started to go into the details of the abilities of the amulet.

"The amulet simply acts like a weapon with an additional element fused into them, like a sword that burns due to their flame attribute, or freezes an opponent upon striking them due the attribute of ice imbued upon it.

The amulet simple takes it a step further and directly imbues the concept of destruction on the user giving them the concept of destruction, which in turn makes their spells and attack have the concept of destruction as a secondary effect, which in turn makes their spells and attack all the more deadly and lethal in nature."

"Like the Power of Destruction of the House of Bael." Sona exclaimed as her eyes widened upon hearing Caster's explanation. "But that is a power of Devils, one that is tied to their very bloodline. So how is it possible that the amulet can recreate their power?" Sona asked Caster, her mind going over the possible ramifications of what Caster had managed to recreate.

The entirety of the Underworld and all the pillars belong to both the Old Satan Factions and the New would be out for his blood if they got wind of what Caster had done. The ability to mimic one of their fame powers would really make the nobles cry for his blood or try to pry the secrets out of him which might even lead to another Civil War.

"I said Concept of Destruction, not Power of Destruction, Little Miss. There is quite a lot of difference between the two." Caster said calmly, and Sona had to wonder if it was due to his arrogance or ignorance that he being so calm. Didn't he know that the entirety of hell would be after his head if news of this gets out! So why was being nit-picky about the terms?!

"The Concept of Destruction is as old the Creation itself and that is what the Amulet draws its power from. Not the watered down weak power that the Devils wield."

Sona had to supress a twitch at hearing Caster call the 'Power of Destruction', a power that was hailed as one of the more powerful powers in all of the supernatural world, a watered down weak power.

"Don't believe me then watch." Caster said as he took out the amulet from the glass case. "Watch what true destruction means."

Power flooded in his right hand and the amulet glowed in his left, his right hand glowed with a brilliant blue light and condensed in forming a thick blue layer over the white glove.

Caster then raised his hand and gently traced a claw motion in the air, leaving behind a pitched black void in the air, a scar upon reality itself. Light air and gravity itself seemed to have been destroyed as the claw mark simply hung in the air, defying the very realms of reality itself.

"Destruction is a concept that is tied with the very fabric of Creation, one that affects the material and the immaterial, the mundane and the supernatural, the living and the spiritual, it affects all and this is what True Destruction means, destruction of the laws of reality itself."

Sona had no words to say, she simply had no words to say. For many years now she had witnessed Rias wield the Power of Destruction and seen her obliterate opponents in a single attack, shattering their magical and physical defences like they were nothing.

Yet…yet Sona knew that Rias would never be able to do what Caster had done with her famed Power of Destruction. This power…this power was simply one that violated the domain of the Primordial and Gods themselves.

"This is the power of concepts, Little Miss, the powers that guide the very laws of the Universe itself." Caster said and Sona could not help but shiver as he said those words.

Yet it was what he said next that really made Sona shiver in fright, like she was in front of The Devil himself, and was now selling her soul to him.

" **Now let us barter, Little Miss."**

 **#####################**

 **AN: Yeah this is a mess of a chapter. Anyone willing to become a beta for this story? I really need one.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"So Little Miss, which of my wares will you be taking today?" Issei asked trying to sound playful and mischievous, even though his pride had been greatly shattered by the ebon haired beauty, even as they sat down to discuss her purchases in his small office.

Not only was she not so overtly impressed with his wares and items and simply looked over them with an impassive bored expression, she also had called them trinkets, TRINKETS! Either the girl had the best damn poker face or his wares were really substandard when compared to the magical world.

No wonder there were no long lines of customers lining up to buy his wares, he was sure that the Bishonen Bastard Vali would have made others interested in his wares, after which his business was supposed to exploded and gain him great success and riches but if the girl's expression was anything to go by then well, the denizens of the supernatural world must have written his wares off as trinkets and toys.

That damn bishonen must have been just some pretty boy from a rich family with no true knowledge about the magical world, which may be why he bought so many items and did not even haggle much.

It was really depressing to learn how truly outclassed he was even in the field of item creation, even with the help of an honest to damn goddess in mortal form.

Still that just meant that he would simply have to put more effort in his training.

At least his best crafted items did catch the girl's attention. That meant that he would have to keep making items of that calibre in order to compete with the item makers.

It was going to be a time consuming and extremely taxing and expensive method but well no one said becoming a world class magician was going to be easy.

"The downsides of the 'Amulet'." The girl said, not lifting her eyes off the amulet. She really must have been interested in it.

"I see that you still have some presence of mind to ask about the downsides and flaws of the amulet. Many people would have just seen the upsides of the amulet and keep gawking at it." Issei remarked playfully, oh what joy it brought him to see the unbridle greed in her eyes. It was a testament of just how great the amulet was in her eyes which in turn was great praise for the work he put into the amulet.

Desires and passions were after all quite the good indicators for how great a piece of artwork was.

"Well as much as I want to say that there are no flaws in the amulet, alas I am not that skilled to create a perfect masterpiece." Issei said, sighing in just how far he still had to go to before he truly could be called a master in anything at all. Though he might have mastery in being a pervert and honesty but those two things were not appreciated much in the modern world.

"To begin with the amulet is quite the power hog and requires quite the large amount of power to for upkeep. One has to be quite attuned and intimately familiar with the concept of destruction to reduce the overall upkeep least they end up becoming a dried dead husk due to overusing the amulet or simply have an absurd level of magical power that the power upkeep is of no issue." Issei explained. Hell when he first used it he almost ended up killing himself and it was only due to Vanelana and Tamamo rescuing and healing him that he was even alive for now.

Also even after all the sessions with Vanelana on how her power of destruction worked and in turn learn about the Concept of Destruction, he was still unable to use the amulet for more than a day while Vanelana could use it for months on end without breaking a sweat. It was like the upkeep for the amulet for her was 0 even in the worst conditions and in the best situations the amulet in fact seemed to be have a regenerating effect on her powers and health on top of boosting her own abilities.

It was Bael bullshit magic at its finest.

"Also the amulet is really bad with spells that affect a large area instead of a single target. The power difference between the two is quite large and noticeable, so if you are using the amulet it is best to focus on single target spells or try to limit using large area of effect spells, and if you do need to use then try to keep the affected area small to gain the most benefits. Curiously though I have found that range is not much of an issue so long range single target bombardment spells go quite well with the amulet." Yeah it had become one of Vanelana's favourite tactics to simply sit back and overcharge her spells with the concept of destruction and let them loose from long range.

It work really, really well with lighting based spells as those had both range and speed to destroy targets in long range with the amulet providing a damn powerful shield and armour piecing capabilities along with added destructive power.

'Power is meant to be shaped.' That was one of Vanelana's mottos and seeing her mould the very Concept of Destruction into streams of lighting still sent shivers down his spine. It was just one of those things that kept reminding Issei that Vanelana was a Devil and not a normal human being, after all only the denizens of hell could have the guts to mess with the very fabric of creation of itself and give the finger to the natural laws of reality.

"One of the more efficient uses of the amulet is to simply coat oneself in an aura of pure magical energies which would be imbued with the concept of destruction creating near invisible armour around the user. The thicker the aura the more potent would be the effect of the amulet, in fact when it comes to sheer defensive applications the amulet is one of the very best among all the items I have in stock, as it gives the user incredible protection against both physical and mystical attacks." Really, one would have expected the amulet to double ones offensive capabilities which it does but in terms of defensive powers, the amulet seemed to multiply them by a hundredfold, which was quite the shocker.

"So ideally this amulet is suited to people who have incredible magical reserves, have very high control over their magic or are fully aware of their limits and powers. Suffice to say it is like an end game item for high levelled characters not for beginners for whom it would be simply be thrash by the sheer virtue of being unable to use it. But for those who can manage themselves properly and are careful when using the amulet, it would help greatly in defeating difficult opponents and act as a hidden ace in times of great danger."

Looking at the girl Issei noted that she did not seemed much impressed and instead had a bored blank expression on her face. 'I guess the downsides are a bit too much.'

"Well if you still want to buy it than I am willing to give discount along with some of my own notes on how to use the amulet. Currently I am unable to make much use of the amulet but I reckon you might be able to make better use of It," and it was true, the power cost was just too much for him to make good use of the amulet and from the discreet scans Issei had done. The girl in front of him had magical reserves that dwarfed his over a hundred times and more, she was just too incredibly powerful.

She was nowhere near as powerful as Vanelana or Tamamo but those two were in a class of their own and while he had not been able to gain an idea about the power level of the Bishonen Bastard, Issei was sure that guy would be around his level or so. For some reason Issei refused to acknowledge Vali as his better. 'Damn ungrateful pretty boy bastard should go die and burn in the nine circles of hell for eternity. I help him propose to his girl and get him hooked up and he does not even have the courtesy to advertise my wares.'

Sure his wares may be substandard and were mostly 'trinkets' as much as it hurt to admit even when it was the truth. But it was probably due to Vali's false advertising that people were not interested in is wares at all, heck even the girl in front of him had only come to his store to catch a breath and rest for a bit.

Yeah, it was all, that damn pretty boy's fault. 'Curse you and damn whole damn kind you Bishonen Bastard.'

"But I have a small condition on the purchase," yeah Issei was going to resort to subtle blackmail and backdoor deals if he wanted to save his business. "Along with the Amulet, I am offering five items for free from the intermediate catalogue and in return all I ask is that you spread the name of my shop to your fellow friends and family. I am sure your word would be a good enough endorsement for my items among your circle of friends."

Oh how it hurt to part with his wares free of charge but Issei desperately needed the publicity, even some extra one or two customers would go a long way in saving his business.

Issei saw that the girl still looked at him blankly there was not even a raised eyebrow. His offer it seemed was not enough but he could afford to give more intermediate items away, while they were not that expensive to make, they were still costly.

"I am also willing to give a 40% discount to you and five of your female family members and female friends but no discount to any male members of your family or your male friends. That is my offer, with that can you endorse my store and items." Issei asked, any more discounts and he would have to close down his store and simply continue his magical studies in seclusion.

'So much for taking the world by storm.'

"I…I can do that." Sona mumbled under her breath, "Yes, I can do that. So are we in agreement or are there more conditions you have not stated yet?"

'This girl really is ruthless isn't she if she wants to continue with the negotiations. I am already at my wits end here and she still wants to go at it.' Issei thought, becoming more than a little scared of the girl, her eyes were quite blank and she seemed like she was not even looking at him at the moment but at something else.

"No we are done here that is my offer take it or leave Little Miss." Issei said with a little edge in his voice, he had to be a bit firm and not let himself be bullied by the girl.

"The offer is satisfactory, Mr Caster." The girl said, as her expression seemed to relax a bit, yet Issei noted that she had a stiff smile.

'Finally, screw her irritation I am not going to give her anymore offers.' Issei thought, even as he stared at the girl's blank poker face.

"Now are there any other items that have caught your interest miss?" Issei asked steeling himself for the next few hours of intense negotiations.

The next few hours thus passed by as Issei and Sona negotiated about other items and of which Issei noted that Sona had taken exactly 5 intermediate class items that too of the highest quality along with several Consummate Training Pills and Energy Purification Potions and several bottles of Silver Ever Grass potions which helped in absorbing purified energies and even had the side benefit of increasing one's life and youthful appearance, and the usual storage rings.

Now if only she had even pretended to be interested than Issei would have an easier time for the most part. It was like she was acting on autopilot probably of sheer utter boredom and simply nodding and adding things to her list at some of his subtle suggestions, though Issei made sure to limit them. He after all did not want to pester her much. Overall it was not an enjoyable experience.

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Sona was acting on autopilot.

That was the best she could describe what was happening to her.

Simply upon hearing the downsides of the amulet and the offers that Caster was making had made her mind go blank as she simply sat there following his instructions and going through the motions of her usual negotiation tactics.

She really must look like an idiot but what caster had said and offered were simple bit too much, and had brought her thought process to a halt.

It was miracle that she had still had enough sense of mind to accept the offer, as her brain simply tried to process the implications of Caster's offer.

He simple wanted her to act as a messenger and advertise his wares and in return was offering quite a lot of lucrative offer. She would have been a fool to reject that offer but thinking about it, he was being really sneaky.

Sona did not know whether or not it would be good for the Devil race to purchase his wares or not as most of them, were medicines and pills with most of them leaning towards purification.

Such things had to be tested and cleared with the higher ups before being sold to the general populace and Caster was asking her, the sister of a Satan, to give her endorsement for the pills, potions and items. It was a really glowing endorsement too, something that would make others start clamouring to buy the pills and it would not just be the Devils.

Her endorsing the pills would make the other factions investigate the place too and in turn bring more customers to his place, which in turn might just escalate the tensions between the factions and possible spark incidents that might lead to the next Great War! Yeah she did not think things through when she accepted his offer.

She had to get Caster on the devils side one way or another to prevent such another war.

Making him part of her peerage was out, Sona was unsure if she even had enough power to make him one of his pieces, so that left making a pact with him, though while modern magician pacts leaned heavily towards the side of devils, Sona had a feeling that such pacts would always favour Castor one way or another.

##################################

"Caster," Sona said steeling herself for the upcoming deal she was about to make. Her elder sister would be angry with her but damn it, she was already in a bind when she accepted Caster's offer, "I have an offer to make."

Good she was able to say that calmly.

"Oh…" Caster hummed, his voice still carrying that infuriately humorous tone, "and what offer is it?"

"I want to make a pact with you." Sona said getting straight to the point.

"A pact? You mean like a Devil Pact?" Issei asked to which Sona nodded in conformation.

"So you're a Devil then." Issei said genuinely surprised to learn that Sona was a devil. "Well that explains a lot of things." like her very large magical reserves.

"Explain what?" Sona could not help but question. She had really not expected Caster to be unaware of her nature.

"Your beauty for one, among other things." Issei said in a teasing tone. 'Distract her, distract her' Issei thought not wanting to let her know that she had some scary negotiation skills, ones that he was vulnerable against. Learning that she was a Devil just upped the scariness.

Sona could not help but shiver a bit at his tone, "Great, I just had to get the perverted old man-type shopkeeper."." Why were all old masters damn perverts? 'I really should cut down watching anime with Rais. I am starting to think in tropes.'

"I resent that, I am still quite young little miss." Issei protested, why was it everyone seemed to think that he was a perverted old man. He was just a healthy young boy who did not try to hide his appreciation of the opposite sex.

"Still I must say that this is the first time a devil has offered to make a pact with me, about time I must say too. But before I make a pact with you and enter a contract what is it that you want from me? After all what can a devil want from a simple human magician like me?" Vanelana sure as hell had not offered such pacts to him.

'A simple human magician my foot.' Sona thought, resisting the urge to strangle the man in front of her, "I want your magical knowledge and want to know about your craft and its secrets." Sona bluntly stated her intentions.

"For that you have to become my student or my lover, and while I would like for you to choose the latter, we both know it is not happening. So tell me why should I make you my student or even make a pact with you under such circumstances?" Issei replied, trust a devil to go after his secrets. Vanelana sure as hell was trying her best, what was one more devil thrown into the mix.

'Well at least he is not adverse to the idea of sharing his information. Also, damn perverted old man, I am not going to become his lover.'

"Well I am the sister of Serafall Leviathan." Sona said, wincing at how she was using her sister status as a Satan to make a pact with a devil. It was a new low for her.

"And?" Issei asked.

"And what?" Sona asked back, surely her sister's name should have been enough.

"And what more? I simply won't give make a pact with you just because your sister has an impressive title. I am making a pact with you not her." Issei replied all the while thinking 'How does that even work anyways? Did the Leviathan himself bestow upon her the title or simply made her an honorary leviathan? I will have to ask Vanelana for confirmation.'

Sona's mind almost blank again, upon seeing her sister's name being brushed off like that. She was more used to her sister's name bring sheer terror into others not being brushed off like it was nothing.

"I am the heir of the house of Sitri…" Sona trailed off, not sure what to say next.

"Well even though you are an heir and the sister of a 'Leviathan', I still see no reason why I should make a pact with you. All I see of your offer is a great loss on my side via the exposure of my secrets with nothing to gain in return." Issei replied, really so far Sona was not offering much but was asking too much of him. Were all Devil pacts like this? Because it simply seemed quite unfair for normal magicians.

"By making a pact with me you also gain a safe access to demonic energies and Devil magic, the possibility of gaining access to my family magic and also an assured unlimited access to my family's magical library barred the family secrets, access to lands and areas to harvest magical regents and an assured boost to your own magical reserves." Sona listed out, she was offering more than what usual magician-devil pacts but even these seemed to be quite less in her eyes as she knew these were things that Caster could easily gather on his own.

Which was why she was surprised at what Caster said next.

"Now you are talking my language. Good to know that the deal won't be too much tilted on your side and it seemed that it would be a fair exchange too." Issei replied with genuine joy, the pact seemed to be quite beneficial and not so unfair now after that explanation.

Especially the extra boost to his reserves, that part seemed to be the most beneficial aspect of the deal and that was not mentioning the financial aspects she was offering.

'Tamamo please prepare the standard Devil ritual.' Issei mentally commanded the Fox Spirit.

'As you wish Master.' Tamamo replied, she had been awfully quite during the whole affair, not commenting on his choices at all. 'Well you do need the magical boost you know, which is why I didn't say anything. Really this might be a good thing for you.' Tamamo replied as she heard his thoughts. 'Now be a good host and entertain the girl.'

"So does that mean you would make a pact with me?" Sona asked not believing her luck, she really wanted to check whether or not she was under some sort of hypnosis or illusion spell as this seemed too good to be true.

"Yes, but I have to warn you I am still a novice of my craft and I am still learning. Hearing that do you still want my secrets and are willing to become a student of mine?" Issei asked wanting to know if Sona would still want to make a pact with him.

"Yes." Sona replied, while cursing Caster a bit for considering himself a novice. If he really was a novice than Merlin himself must have been nothing but a trickster and a very successful conman.

"Well then follow me," Issei said as he led Sona out of his office, "my wife has informed me that she has completed the preparation for the ritual." Really Tamamo was a really fast worker when she put her mind into it.

Caster's words surprised Sona, not only had she somehow missed out the fact that there was another person in the building but moreover she was surprised to hear that Caster had a ritual prepared to complete their pact too.

'Did he plan it?' Sona could not help but think. It had what taken her only a few minutes to pitch her offer and here Caster had already prepared a ritual to complete the pact, one that normally takes normal magicians hours to prepare. 'He tricked me again!' Sona bit back her growl at how well Caster played her.

Seething with rage and trying her best to calm down and how it was a bad idea to kill the man in front of her, Sona followed Caster into the ritual room.

Entering the room, one that Sona noted looked like a room of rituals. She saw a single feminine figure greet Caster and her.

The figure was clad in black from head to toe. She wore a form fitting black blouse and black miniskirt, black leggings and black boots with a black overcoat draping her shoulders. At her waist was a grey belt holding small pouches and a white bone short sword, of what kind Sona was unsure whether or not it had a steel blade at all, as the sword seemed to have no over indication of splitting into two.

She had long grey hair, tied in a ponytail while her face was concealed by a plain bone white fox mask with no visible markings or even eyeholes, giving her quite the eerie appearance.

"Little Miss, my wife…"

"Assassin." The woman finished, her tone carrying a hint of maniacal glee. Like that of a predator who had found his prey.

And Sona really had to fight the urge to run away from the woman at hearing that.

So far Caster practically lived up to his code name and Sona did not want to find out whether or not the woman could do the same.

"Forgive my wife she tends to have a habit of scaring others." Issei said mentally admonishing Tamamo. 'Also Karasuba? Really?' Issei commented through the telepathic link as he recognised the dress Tamamo was wearing and the bird crest on the jacket.

'What? I keep meeting the woman whenever I am in Shin Tokyo and she does a really good job at being a bodyguard and enforcer.' Tamamo replied, not mentioning the sheer terror the woman was able to invoke in others.

Issei tried to ignore the fact that Tamamo was an active visitor of Shin Tokyo and knew another fictional species; he focused his attention on the ritual for now. "Now let us continue with the ritual shall we?" Issei said as he stepped into the ritual circle with Sona following him.

Sona eyed the ritual circle and frowned as she failed to recognise it.

"I don't recognise the circle." She admitted giving Caster a questioning glance.

"Really?" Issei said a bit surprised that a Devil could not recognise a normal ritual circle. It was one that Solomon used for all his contracts. "This is the standard ritual circle for Devil pacts. How could you not recognise it?"

Looking at the circle properly Sona noted that there were parts of the circle that were missing, most notably the part where the Devil Family's Crest should be and the personal symbols of the Magician. There were also some parts and aspects of the circle that Sona did not recognise, parts which screamed ancient to her senses.

"Well if you don't recognise the circle than I have to warn you, 'words have power', once the ritual begins be very careful of the words you speak. I cannot stress how important this part is." Issei stated, really words spoken while making magical pacts and deals were really important. Solomon dedicated ten entire chapters on it and he was one of the foremost experts when it came to making pacts with demons, so Issei took his words seriously.

Sona did not see why Caster was so worked up about it but took his words seriously nonetheless.

Normal devil pacts normally did not pay much heed to the words said during the ritual and mostly paid attention to their contracts and its wordings but this was not a normal pact was it? This was something else.

'Are you really sure you want to do this?' Tamamo asked Issei through their familiar bond.

'Yes'

'You do know that you will have to give her your true name to fully complete the pact.' Tamamo informed him.

'Ah…' Issei mind blanked as he remembered that tiny bit '…I forgot.'

'Ara, ara, no backing out now, Master. You have after all given your word.'

'Well too late for that now, and like you said I can't go back on my words. What kind of a man would I be if I broke my promise to a girl?' Issei replied, still feeling a bit apprehensive now that he knew he had to reveal his true name.

"Let's begin shall we." Issei announced as he activated the ritual circle.

"By the covenant of old and new," Issei began chanting the contractual words of the Devil Pact, "By the laws of Heaven and Hell, I bind thee devil and myself, in a pact forged through the bonds of our very souls and essence. In return for power and forbidden knowledge of Devil kind, I offer my skills and knowledge in the mystical arts and ask thee to do the same."

Hearing the chant and the words of the contract Sona was unsure of how she should continue as the words were different than any of the regular pacts, so she simply decided to use the one that she was most familiar with.

"I accept thy offer of knowledge and skills, and in return bind our souls together forever with this pact and May this pact be only be broken when eternity ends." Sona chanted. It was the standard chant meant to impress the magicians that they were supposed to make pacts with, something to impress them, nothing but empty words.

Which was why she missed how Caster's eyes widen in shock, Assassin screaming profanities and calling her an ignorant fool, and the way Caster and her glowed in an ethereal light. Sona ignored it all for her senses were now overwhelmed by a strange sensation and she felt her very sense of self stripped bare of all her masks and personas.

She felt herself connect with Caster in a far more intimate manner than a lover would have, presented herself in a way that left her far more vulnerable than her naked self. Stripped of all lies, masks, personas and barriers, Sona felt her soul connect with Caster's in a way that she could not fathom.

She knew that Caster could see what made her 'her', knew her ambitions, her drives, her dreams and…her secrets, some that even her sister and family were unaware. Sona knew that there was nothing hidden from Caster due to this, strange new bond they were forming. Just as she knew everything there was to know about him.

Caster, to Sona, was just a simple boy, an honest boy, whose optimism knew no bounds, was honest and loyal to a fault and was simply naïve in the ways of courting women, though that did not stop him from showing his love and appreciation for them.

Sona was surprised to learn of the identity of Assassin, an incarnation of a goddess, Tamamo-no-mae, and was surprised to learn that she was in fact a fictional character brought to life but what surprised her the most was the sheer devotion the fox-witch had for Caster, who loved her in return, in a way that made her green with envy.

It was love, plain and simple. Something that Sona had thought that the values of the modern world had all but crushed as it perverted love into a more hedonistic meaning. A love that Rias and many other Devils coveted, something that Sona believed only existed in fairy tales.

And yet…and yet, seeing such a pure love before her, Sona could not help but feel jealousy and envy towards Tamamo and take Caster and his love for herself.

she wanted Caster to direct all his love towards her, wanted to see how it felt having his loving gaze upon her, she wanted to feel the embrace that would comfort her and show that she was loved and would always be loved and so much more…so much more.

She wanted that love that was all she wanted in this moment.

Other Devils may call her an idiot for chasing after such a fleeting thing that was love, when she should have been searching ways to gather more power for herself.

Damn fools, the lot of them.

So what if she was chasing after Caster for his love, it was not like he did not have enough power to carve his own place in the world. Especially with the enormous untapped power that dwelled inside of him, one that dwarfed even Sona's own vast reserves of power by a hundred-fold and more.

Then there was Tamamo to consider as well.

So all in all, Caster had enough power to face anything that would get in his way. All he needed now was some guidance and someone to teach him the ways of the Supernatural world, a task that Sona would gladly take it upon herself.

Who knows it might even help her seduce him too.

Oh the things she would do to him.

Sona stared into the eyes of Caster, no, of Issei Hyoudou, seeing nothing but understanding between them, one that she was determined to fill with love.

"I, accept your offer Sona Sitri." Issei said, knowing what was offered and what it meant.

"And I accept your, Issei Hyoudou. May our pact last for eternity and beyond." Sona said, earnestly wishing that her words be kept true.

Issei simply gave her a smile, understanding what Sona was wishing for, one that he even was wishing for. And together they both said in unison, before darkness welcomed them in its embrace.

" **And Thus, The Pact is Sealed."**

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 **AN: OK, so I could not follow my thought process of what was going on with this chapter, as I kept switching to my other stories while writing it. So for me it created a bit of a discontinuous feeling and I had keep editing a lot of part of it to make it flow, and have a coherent flow for the story but well jumbled is jumbled.**

 **Anyways this chapter tackled the side effects of the Amulet of Destruction which while OP powerful has quite a lot of flaws too, so don't expect to see it be the end all weapon type of thing. It is not a noob item at all.**

 **And yes Issei has made a pact with Sona, as to why he easily did it, well he has being hanging around Vanelana who is trying her best to seduce him, and she is also doing it for the same reason as Sona.**

' **True Love' Baby!**

 **Issei simply loves too much and he is just so, so, sincere about it. And yes while he is a big pervert, I like him due to how he just acts around Asia and how great their interactions are.**

 **Honestly, were it not for Rias and Akeno encouraging his habits, The love story between the two would have been wonderful to watch. Really those two act so damn cute towards each other, it is really fun to watch how those two interact, and then Rias has to act all possessive.**

 **Well that is how the story is progressing and I thought of a very interesting scene that I am going to dedicate an entire chapter towards.**

 **It is a short scene but damn it, if it does not deserve an entire chapter about it.**

 **Well this is Tale Master signing out. Review and let me know how you like this chapter and the overall story too.**


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